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IBrescott.
EDITION DE LUXE OF THE COMPLETE
WORKS OF
WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT,
Edited by JOHN FOSTER KIRK.
WITH THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS ON STEEL.
IN FIFTEEN VOLUMES.
Volume IV.
®tp« ijunorcD arib /iftp Copies fJrmtcD.
No. ..{£..&..
HISTORY
CONQUEST OF MEXICO.
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HISTORY f\230
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CONQUEST OF MEXICO
By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT
" Victrices aquilas alium laturus in orbem."
Lucan, Pharsalia, lib. v., v. 238.
EDITED BY JOHN FOSTER KIRK
VOLUME I.
C
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
Copyright, 1843,
By WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.
Copyright, 1871,
By WILLIAM G. PRESCOTT.
Copyright, 1873,
By J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
Mexico— Vol. I.
Lippincott' s Press, Philadelphia.
PREFACE.
As the Conquest of Mexico has occupied the pens
of Solis and of Robertson, two of the ablest historians
of their respective nations, it might seem that little
could remain at the present day to be gleaned by the
historical inquirer. But Robertson's narrative is neces-
sarily brief, forming only part of a more extended
work ; and neither the British nor the Castilian author
was provided with the important materials for relating
this event which have been since assembled by the in-
dustry of Spanish scholars. The scholar who led the
way in these researches was Don Juan Baptista Munoz,
the celebrated historiographer of the Indies, who, by
a royal edict, was allowed free access to the national
archives, and to all libraries, public, private, and mo-
nastic, in the kingdom and its colonies. The result of
his long labors was a vast body of materials, of which
unhappily he did not live to reap the benefit himself.
His manuscripts were deposited, after his death, in the
archives of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid ;
and that collection was subsequently augmented by the
manuscripts of Don Vargas Ponce, President of the
Academy, obtained, like those of Munoz, from different
quarters, but especially from the archives of the Indies
at Seville.
A* (V)
vi PREFACE.
On my application to the Academy, in 1838, for
permission to copy that part of this inestimable collec-
tion relating to Mexico and Peru, it was freely acceded
to, and an eminent German scholar, one of their own
number, was appointed to superintend the collation
and transcription of the manuscripts ; and this, it may
be added, before I had any claim on the courtesy of
that respectable body, as one of its associates. This
conduct shows the advance of a liberal spirit in the
Peninsula since the time of Dr. Robertson, who com-
plains that he was denied admission to the most im-
portant public repositories. The favor with which my
own application was regarded, however, must chiefly
be attributed to the kind offices of the venerable Pres-
ident of the Academy, Don Martin Fernandez de
Navarrete ; a scholar whose personal character has
secured to him the same high consideration at home
which his literary labors have obtained abroad. To
this eminent person Lam under still further obligations,
for the free use which he has allowed me to make of
his own manuscripts, — the fruits of a life of accumula-
tion, and the basis of those valuable publications with
which he has at different times illustrated the Spanish
colonial history.
From these three magnificent collections, the result
of half a century's careful researches, I have obtained
a mass of unpublished documents, relating to the Con-
quest and Settlement of Mexico and of Peru, com-
prising altogether about eight thousand folio pages.
They consist of instructions of the Court, military and
private journals, correspondence of the great actors in
the scenes, legal instruments, contemporary chronicles,
PREFACE. vii
and the like, drawn from all the principal places in the
extensive colonial empire of Spain, as well as from the
public archives in the Peninsula.
I have still further fortified the collection by glean-
ing such materials from Mexico itself as had been
overlooked by my illustrious predecessors in these re-
searches. For these I am indebted to the courtesy of
Count Cortina, and, yet more, to that of Don Lucas
Alaman, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mexico ; but,
above all, to my excellent friend, Don Angel Cal-
deron de la Barca, late Minister Plenipotentiary to
that country from the court of Madrid, — a gentleman
whose high and estimable qualities, even more than
his station, secured him the public confidence, and
gained him free access to every place of interest and
importance in Mexico.
I have also to acknowledge the very kind offices
rendered to me by the Count Camaldoli at Naples ; by
the Duke of Serradifalco in Sicily, a nobleman whose
science gives additional lustre to his rank ; and by the
Duke of Monteleone, the present representative of
Cortes, who has courteously opened the archives of
his family to my inspection. To these names must
also be added that of Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart., whose
precious collection of manuscripts probably surpasses in
extent that of any private gentleman in Great Britain,
if not in Europe; that of M. Ternaux-Compans,
the proprietor of the valuable literary collection of
Don Antonio Uguina, including the papers of Munoz,
the fruits of which he is giving to the world in his
excellent translations ; and, lastly, that of my friend
and countryman, Arthur Middleton, Esq., late Charge-
viii PREFACE.
d' Affaires from the United States at the court of Madrid,
for the efficient aid he has afforded me in prosecuting
my inquiries in that capital.
In addition to this stock of original documents ob-
tained through these various sources, I have diligently
provided myself with such printed works as have refer-
ence to the subject, including the magnificent publica-
tions, which have appeared both in France and England,
on the Antiquities of Mexico, which, from their cost
and colossal dimensions, would seem better suited to
a public than to a private library.
Having thus stated the nature of my materials, and
the sources whence they are derived, it remains for me
to add a few observations on the general plan and com-
position of the work. Among the remarkable achieve-
ments of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, there
is no one more striking to the imagination than the
conquest of Mexico. The subversion of a great em-
pire by a handful of adventurers, taken with all its
strange and picturesque accompaniments, has the air
of romance rather than of sober history ; and it is not
easy to treat such a theme according to the severe rules
prescribed by historical criticism. But, notwithstand-
ing the seductions of the subject, I have conscientiously
endeavored to distinguish fact from fiction, and to es-
tablish the narrative on as broad a basis as possible of
contemporary evidence ; and I have taken occasion to
corroborate the text by ample citations from authori-
ties, usually in the original, since few of them can be
very accessible to the reader. In these extracts I have
scrupulously conformed to the ancient orthography,
however obsolete and even barbarous, rather than
PREFACE. i x
impair in any degree the integrity of the original
document.
Although the subject of the work is, properly, only
the Conquest of Mexico, I have prepared the way for
it by such a view of the civilization of the ancient
Mexicans as might acquaint the reader with the char-
acter of this extraordinary race, and enable him to
understand the difficulties which the Spaniards had to
encounter in their subjugation. This Introductory part
of the work, with the essay in the Appendix which
properly belongs to the Introduction, although both
together making only half a volume, has cost me as
much labor, and nearly as much time, as the remainder
of the history. If I shall have succeeded in giving the
reader a just idea of the true nature and extent of the
civilization to which the Mexicans had attained, it will
not be labor lost.
The story of the Conquest terminates with the fall
of the capital. Yet I have preferred to continue the
narrative to the death of Cortes, relying on the interest
which the development of his character in his military
career may have excited in the reader. I am not in-
sensible to the hazard I incur by such a course. The
mind, previously occupied with one great idea, that of
the subversion of the capital, may feel the prolonga-
tion of the story beyond that point superfluous, if not
tedious, and may find it difficult, after the excitement
caused by witnessing a great national catastrophe, to
take an interest in the adventures of a private individ-
ual. Solis took the more politic course of concluding
his narrative with the fall of Mexico, and thus leaves
his readers with the full impression of that memorable
i*
x PREFACE.
event, undisturbed, on their minds. To prolong the
narrative is to expose the historian to the error so much
censured by the French critics in some of their most
celebrated dramas, where the author by a premature
denouement has impaired the interest of his piece. It is
the defect that necessarily attaches, though in a greater
degree, to the history of Columbus, in which petty
adventures among a group of islands make up the
sequel of a life that opened with the magnificent dis-
covery of a World, — a defect, in short, which it has
required all the genius of Irving and the magical charm
of his style perfectly to overcome.
Notwithstanding these objections, I have been in-
duced to continue the narrative, partly from deference
to the opinion of several Spanish scholars, who con-
sidered that the biography of Cortes had not been
fully exhibited, and partly from the circumstance of
my having such a body of original materials for this
biography at my command. And I cannot regret that
I have adopted this course; since, whatever lustre
the Conquest may reflect on Cortes as a military
achievement, it gives but an imperfect idea of his en-
lightened spirit and of his comprehensive and versatile
genius.
To the eye of the critic there may seem some in-
congruity in a plan which combines objects so dissimilar
as those embraced by the present history, where the
Introduction, occupied with the antiquities and origin
of a nation, has somewhat the character of a philosophic
theme, while the conclusion is strictly biographical, and
the two may be supposed to match indifferently with
the main body, or historical portion, of the work. But
PREFACE. xi
I may hope that such objections will be found to have
less weight in practice than in theory; and, if properly
managed, that the general views of the Introduction
will prepare the reader for the particulars of the Con-
quest, and that the great public events narrated in this
will, without violence, open the way to the remaining
personal history of the hero who is the soul of it.
Whatever incongruity may exist in other respects, I
may hope that the unity of interest, the only unity held
of much importance by modern critics, will be found
still to be preserved.
The distance of the present age from the period of
the narrative might be presumed to secure the historian
from undue prejudice or partiality. Yet by the Ameri-
can and the English reader, acknowledging so different
a moral standard from that of the sixteenth century, I
may possibly be thought too indulgent to the errors of
the Conquerors ; while by a Spaniard, accustomed to
the undiluted panegyric of Solis, I may be deemed to
have dealt too hardly with them. To such I can only
say that, while, on the one hand, I have not hesitated
to expose in their strongest colors the excesses of the
Conquerors, on the other, I have given them the benefit
of such mitigating reflections as might be suggested bj
the circumstances and the period in which they lived.
I have endeavored not only to present a picture true in
itself, but to place it in its proper light, and to put the
spectator in a proper point of view for seeing it to the
best advantage. I have endeavored, at the expense of
some repetition, to surround him with the spirit of the
times, and, in a word, to make him, if I may so ex-
press myself, a contemporary of the sixteenth century.
xii PREFACE.
Whether, and how far, I have succeeded in this, he
must determine.
For one thing, before I conclude, I may reasonably
ask the reader's indulgence. Owing to the state of my
eyes, I have been obliged to use a writing-case made for
the blind, which does not permit the writer to see his
own manuscript. Nor have I ever corrected, or even
read, my own original draft. As the chirography,
under these disadvantages, has been too often careless
and obscure, occasional errors, even with the utmost care
of my secretary, must have necessarily occurred in the
transcription, somewhat increased by the barbarous
phraseology imported from my Mexican authorities.
I cannot expect that these errors have always been
detected even by the vigilant eye of the perspicacious
critic to whom the proof-sheets have been subjected.
In the Preface to the "History of Ferdinand and
Isabella," I lamented that, while occupied with that
subject, two of its most attractive parts had engaged
the attention of the most popular of American authors,
Washington Irving. By a singular chance, something
like the reverse of this has taken place in the compo-
sition of the present history, and I have found myself
unconsciously taking up ground which he was preparing
to occupy. It was not till I had become master of my
rich collection of materials that I was acquainted with
this circumstance ; and, had he persevered in his de-
sign, I should unhesitatingly have abandoned my own,
if not from courtesy, at least from policy ; for, though
armed with the weapons of Achilles, this could give
me no hope of success in a competition with Achilles
himself. But no sooner was that distinguished writer
PREFACE. xiii
informed of the preparations I had made, than, with
the gentlemanly spirit which will surprise no one who
has the pleasure of his acquaintance, he instantly
announced to me his attention of leaving the subject
open to me. While I do but justice to Mr. Irving by
this statement, I feel the prejudice it does to myself in
the unavailing regret I am exciting in the bosom of
the reader.
I must not conclude this Preface, too long protracted
as it is already, without a word of acknowledgment
to my friend George Ticknor, Esq., — the friend of
many years, — for his patient revision of my manu-
script ; a labor of love, the worth of which those only
can estimate who are acquainted with his extraordinary
erudition and his nice critical taste. If I have reserved
his name for the last in the list of those to whose good
offices I am indebted, it is most assuredly not because
I value his services least.
WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.
BOSTON, October i, 1843.
NOTE. — The author's emendations of this history include many
additional notes, which, being often contradictory to the text, have
been printed between brackets. They were chiefly derived from the
copious annotations of Don Jose F. Ramirez and Don Lucas Alaman
to the two Spanish translations published in Mexico. There could be
no stronger guarantee of the value and general accuracy of the work
than the minute labor bestowed upon it by these distinguished
scholars. — Ed.
Vol. I.
GENERAL CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
INTRODUCTION.— VIEW OF THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
BOOK II.
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
BOOK III.
MARCH TO MEXICO.
BOOK IV.
RESIDENCE IN MEXICO.
BOOK V.
EXPULSION FROM MEXICO.
BOOK VI.
SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF MEXICO.
BOOK VII.
CONCLUSION.— SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF CORTES.
APPENDIX.
(XV)
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
BOOK I.
INTRODUCTION.— VIEW OF THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
CHAPTER I.
PAGB
Ancient Mexico.— Climate and Products. — Primitive
Races. — Aztec Empire i
Extent of the Aztec Territory 2
The Hot Region 3
Volcanic Scenery 5
Cordillera of the Andes 6
Table-land in the Days of the Aztecs 7
Valley of Mexico 8
TheToltecs 10
Their mysterious Disappearance 14
Races from the Northwest ........ 15
Their Hostilities 17
Foundation of Mexico 19
Domestic Feuds 20
League of the kindred Tribes 21
Rapid Rise of Mexico ,22
Prosperity of the Empire 23
Criticism on Veytia's History 24
CHAPTER II.
Succession to the Crown. — Aztec Nobility. — Judicial
System. — Laws and Revenues. — Military Institu-
tions 26
Election of the Sovereign ....... 26
His Coronation .......... 27
Aztec Nobles 28
B* 2 ( xvii )
xviii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Their barbaric Pomp 29
Tenure of their Estates
29
Legislative Power 31
Judicial System 32
Independent Judges 34
Their Mode of Procedure 35
Showy Tribunal 36
Hieroglyphical Paintings 37
Marriage Rites 38
Slavery in Mexico .38
Royal Revenues 40
Burdensome Imposts 42
Public Couriers 43
Military Enthusiasm 45
Aztec Ambassadors 45
Orders of Knighthood 46
Gorgeous Armor 47
National Standard 47
Military Code 49
Hospitals for the Wounded 49
Influence of Conquest on a Nation 51
Criticism on Torquemada's History 52
Abbe Clavigero 53
CHAPTER III.
Mexican Mythology. — The Sacerdotal Order. — The
Temples. — Human Sacrifices 55
Systems of Mythology . . 55
Mythology of the Aztecs 57
Ideas of a God 58
Sanguinary War-god 59
God of the Air 60
Mystic Legends 61
Division of Time 64
Future State 65
Funeral Ceremonies 66
Baptismal Rites 67
Monastic Orders 70
CONTENTS. xix
PAGE
Feasts and Flagellation 71
Aztec Confessional . . 71
Education of the Youth . . 72
Revenue of the Priests 74
Mexican Temples 75
Religious Festivals 76
Human Sacrifices 77
The Captive's Doom .78
Ceremonies of Sacrifice 79
Torturing of the Victim 80
Sacrifice of Infants 81
Cannibal Banquets 81
Number of Victims .... .... 82
Houses of Skulls 83
Cannibalism of the Aztecs 87
Criticism on Sahagun's History 89
CHAPTER IV.
Mexican Hieroglyphics. — Manuscripts. — Arithmetic.
— Chronology.— Astronomy 93
Dawning of Science 93
Picture-writing 94
Aztec Hieroglyphics 96
Manuscripts of the Mexicans 97
Emblematic Symbols 98
Phonetic Signs . 99
Materials of the Aztec Manuscripts 102
Form of their Volumes 103
Destruction of most of them 104
Remaining Manuscripts 105
Difficulty of deciphering them 108
Minstrelsy of the Aztecs in
Theatrical Entertainments 112
System of Notation 112
Their Chronology ug
The Aztec Era ny
Calendar of the Priests 120
xx CONTENTS.
PAGE
Science of Astrology 123
Astrology of the Aztecs 124
Their Astronomy 125
Wonderful Attainments in this Science .... 126
Remarkable Festival 128
Carnival of the Aztecs 130
Lord Kingsborough's Work 131
Criticism on Gama 132
CHAPTER V.
Aztec Agriculture.— Mechanical Arts.— Merchants.
— Domestic Manners 134
Mechanical Genius 134
Agriculture 136
Mexican Husbandry 136
Vegetable Products 138
Mineral Treasures 141
Skill of the Aztec Jewellers , 143
Sculpture 144
Huge Calendar-stone 145
Aztec Dyes 146
Beautiful Feather-work . 147
Fairs of Mexico 148
National Currency 148
Trades 149
Aztec Merchants 149
Militant Traders 150
Domestic Life 152
Kindness to Children 153
Polygamy 154
Condition of the Sex ........ 154
Social Entertainments 154
Use of Tobacco 155
Culinary Art 157
Agreeable Drinks 158
Dancing 158
Intoxication 159
Criticism on Boturini's Work 160
CONTENTS. xxi
CHAPTER VI.
PAGE
Tezcucans. — Their Golden Age. — Accomplished Princes.
— Decline of their Monarchy 163
The Acolhuans or Tezcucans 163
Prince Nezahualcoyotl 164
His Persecution ......... 165
His Hair-breadth Escapes 166
His wandering Life . 167
Fidelity of his Subjects . . . . . . .168
Triumphs over his Enemies 169
Remarkable League ........ 169
General Amnesty 170
The Tezcucan Code . 170
Departments of Government ...... 171
Council of Music 172
Its Censorial Office 172
Literary Taste 173
Tezcucan Bards 174
Royal Ode 175
Resources of Nezahualcoyotl 177
His magnificent Palace 178
His Gardens and Villas 179
Address of the Priest ........ 182
His Baths 184
Luxurious Residence ........ 185
Existing Remains of it 185
Royal Amours . . . 186
Marriage of the King 188
Forest Laws 189
Strolling Adventures 190
Munificence of the Monarch 192
His Religion 192
Temple to the Unknown God 193
Philosophic Retirement 194
His plaintive Verses 195
Last Hours of Nezahualcoyotl 197
His Character 199
Succeeded by Nezahualpilli 200
xxii CONTENTS.
PAGE
The Lady of Tula 201
Executes his Son 202
Effeminacy of the King 202
His consequent Misfortunes 203
Death of Nezahualpilli 203
Tezcucan Civilization
204
Criticism on Ixtlilxochitl's Writings 206
BOOK II.
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
Spain under Charles v.— Progress of Discovery.— Co-
lonial Policy. — Conquest of Cuba. — Expeditions
to Yucatan 211
Condition of Spain 211
Increase of Empire . . 212
Cardinal Ximenes 212
Arrival of Charles the Fifth 212
Swarm of Flemings . 213
Opposition of the Cortes 214
Colonial Administration 215
Spirit of Chivalry 216
Progress of Discovery 217
Advancement of Colonization 218
System of Repartimientos 218
Colonial Policy 219
Discovery of Cuba 220
Its Conquest by Velasquez 221
Cordova's Expedition to Yucatan .... 222
His Reception by the Natives 223
Grijalva's Expedition 224
Civilization in Yucatan 225
CONTENTS. xxiii
PAGE
Traffic with the Indians 226
His Return to Cuba 227
His cool Reception 227
Ambitious Schemes of the Governor 228
Preparations for an Expedition 229
CHAPTER II.
Hernando Cortes. — His Early Life.— Visits the New
World.— His Residence in Cuba.— Difficulties with
Velasquez. — Armada intrusted to Cortes . . 230
Hernando Cortes 230
His Education 231
Choice of a Profession 232
Departure for America 233
Arrival at Hispaniola 234
His Mode of Life 235
Enlists under Velasquez 236
Habits of Gallantry 237
Disaffected towards Velasquez 237
Cortes in Confinement 238
Flies into a Sanctuary 239
Again put in Irons 240
His perilous Escape 240
His Marriage 240
Reconciled with the Governor 241
Retires to his Plantation 242
Armada intrusted to Cortes ...... 244
Preparations for the Voyage 245
Instructions to Cortes 247
CHAPTER III.
Jealousy of Velasquez.— Cortes embarks. — Equipment
of his Fleet.— His Person and Character. — Ren-
dezvous at Havana. — Strength of his Armament . 250
Jealousy of Velasquez 250
Intrigues against Cortes 251
xxiv CONTENTS.
PAGE
His clandestine Embarkation . . ., . . 252
Arrives at Macaca 253
Accession of Volunteers 254
Stores and Ammunition 255
Orders from Velasquez to arrest Cortds .... 255
He raises the Standard at Havana ...... 256
Person of Cortes 257
His Character 258
Strength of the Armament 259
Stirring Address to his Troops 261
Fleet weighs Anchor ....,,... 262
Remarks on Estrella's Manuscript 262
CHAPTER IV.
Voyage to Cozumel. — Conversion of the Natives. —
jeronimo de aguilar. — army arrives at tabasco.
— Great Battle with the Indians.— Christianity
introduced 264
Disastrous Voyage to Cozumel 264
Humane Policy of Cortes ....... 265
Cross found in the Island . . . . . , . . 266
Religious Zeal of the Spaniards 267
Attempts at Conversion 269
Overthrow of the Idols 269
Jeronimo de Aguilar 271
His Adventures 271
Employed as an Interpreter ...... 273
Fleet arrives at Tabasco . . 274
Hostile Reception 274
Fierce Defiance of the Natives ...... 275
Desperate Conflict 276
Effect of the Fire-arms ........ 277
Cortes takes Tabasco ........ 277
Ambush of the Indians , 278
The Country in Arms 279
Preparations for Battle 280
March on the Enemy ........ 281
Joins Battle with the Indians ....... 282
CONTENTS. xxv
PAGE
Doubtful Struggle 283
Terror at the War-horse 283
Victory of the Spaniards 284
Number of Slain 285
Treaty with the Natives 286
Conversion of the Heathen 287
Catholic Communion . . . . . . . • 288
Spaniards embark for Mexico 289
CHAPTER V.
Voyage along the Coast. — Dona Marina. — Spaniards
land in Mexico. — Interview with the Aztecs . 290
Voyage along the Coast 290
Natives come on Board 291
Dona Marina . 292
Her History 292
Her Beauty and Character 293
First Tidings of Montezuma 295
Spaniards land in Mexico ....... 295
First Interview with the Aztecs 297
Their magnificent Presents 299
Cupidity of the Spaniards . 299
Cortes displays his Cavalry 300
Aztec Paintings ......... 301
CHAPTER VI.
Account of Montezuma. — State of his Empire. — Strange
Prognostics. — Embassy and Presents. — Spanish En-
campment 302
Montezuma then upon the Throne . . . .' . 302
Inaugural Address 303
The Wars of Montezuma 304
His civil Policy 304
Oppression of his Subjects 306
Foes of his Empire 306
Superstition of Montezuma ...... 308
Vol. I. — 2 c
xxvi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Mysterious Prophecy 308
Portentous Omens 309
Dismay of the Emperor 311
Embassy and Presents to the Spaniards .... 312
Life in the Spanish Camp 313
Rich Present from Montezuma ...... 314
Large gold Wheels 315
Message from Montezuma 317
Effects of the Treasure on the Spaniards .... 318
Return of the Aztec Envoys 319
Prohibition of Montezuma 320
Preaching of Father Olmedo 320
Desertion of the Natives 321
CHAPTER VII.
Troubles in the Camp.— Plan of a Colony.— Manage-
ment of Cortes. — March to Cempoalla. — Proceed-
ings with the Natives. — Foundation of Vera Cruz . 322
Discontent of the Soldiery .... . 322
Envoys from the Totonacs . . . . . . . 323
Dissensions in the Aztec Empire 324
Proceedings in the Camp 324
Cortes prepares to return to Cuba 325
Army remonstrate 326
Cortes yields 326
Foundation of Villa Rica 327
Resignation and Reappointment of Cortes .... 328
Divisions in the Camp . , 329
General Reconciliation 330
March to Cempoalla 33a
Picturesque Scenery 332
Remains of Victims 333
Terrestrial Paradise 334
Love of Flowers by the Natives 335
Their splendid Edifices 336
Hospitable Entertainment at Cempoalla 337
Conference with the Cacique 338
CONTENTS. X xvii
PAGE
Proposals of Alliance 339
Advance of the Spaniards . 341
Arrival of Aztec Nobles 341
Artful Policy of Cortes , 342
Allegiance of the Natives 344
City of Villa Rica built 344
Infatuation of the Indians 345
CHAPTER VIII.
Another Aztec Embassy. — Destruction of the Idols. —
Despatches sent to Spain. — Conspiracy in the Camp.
— The Fleet sunk 347
Embassy from Montezuma 347
Its Results 348
Severe Discipline in the Army ...... 349
Gratitude of the Cempoallan Cacique 350
Attempt at Conversion 350
Sensation among the Natives 351
The Idols burned 352
Consecration of the Sanctuary 353
News from Cuba 354
Presents for Charles the Fifth 355
First Letter of Cortes 357
Despatches to Spain 359
Agents for the Mission 360
Departure of the Ship . 362
It touches at Cuba ........ 362
Rage of Velasquez 362
Ship arrives in Spain 363
Conspiracy in the Camp 363
Destruction of the Fleet 365
Oration of Cortes 367
Enthusiasm of the Army 368
Notice of Las Casas 371
His Life and Character 371
Criticism on his Works 378
xxviii CONTENTS.
BOOK III.
MARCH TO MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Proceedings at Cempoalla. — The Spaniards climb the
Table-land. — Picturesque Scenery.— Transactions
with the Natives. — Embassy to Tlascala . . 383
Squadron off the Coast 383
Stratagem of Cortes 385
Arrangement at Villa Rica .... s 386
Spaniards begin their March . . . . . . 387
Climb the Cordilleras 388
Wild Mountain Scenery 391
Immense Heaps of human Skulls 393
Transactions with the Natives 393
Accounts of Montezuma's Power ..... 394
Moderation of Father Olmedo 396
Indian Dwellings 398
Cortes determines his Route 399
Embassy to Tlascala 400
Remarkable Fortification 401
Arrival in Tlascala 402
CHAPTER II.
Republic of Tlascala. — Its Institutions. — Early His-
tory.— Discussions in the Senate. — Desperate Bat-
tles , 403
The Tlascalans . . 403
Their Migrations 404
Their Government ........ 404
Public Games ...„...,.., 406
Order of Knighthood 406
Internal Resources . 407
Their Civilization ........ 407
CONTENTS. xxix
PAGE
Struggles with the Aztecs 408
Means of Defence ........ 409
Sufferings of the Tlascalans . . . . . . .411
Their hardy Character 412
Debates in the Senate ........ 412
Spaniards advance . . 414
Desperate Onslaught 414
Retreat of the Indians ....... 415
Bivouac of the Spaniards 416
The Army resumes its March ...... 417
Immense Host of Barbarians ....... 419
Bloody Conflict in the Pass ...... 420
Enemy give Ground ........ 421
Spaniards clear the Pass ....... 422
Cessation of Hostilities . 422
Results of the Conflict ....... 423
Troops encamp for the Night 424
CHAPTER III.
Decisive Victory. — Indian Council. — Night Attack. —
Negotiations with the Enemy. — Tlascalan Hero . 426
Envoys to Tlascala ........ 426
Foraging Party. 427
Bold Defiance by the Tlascalans ..... 427
Preparations for Battle . 429
Appearance of the Tlascalans 430
Showy Costume of the Warriors 432
Their Weapons 433
Desperate Engagement 435
The Combat thickens 436
Divisions among the Enemy 437
Decisive Victory 437
Triumph of Science over Numbers ...... 439
Dread of the Cavalry ........ 440
Indian Council 440
Night Attack 441
Spaniards victorious 442
Embassy to Tlascala 442
C*
xxx CONTENTS.
PAGE
Peace with the Enemy 443
Patriotic Spirit of their Chief 444
CHAPTER IV.
Discontents in the Army. — Tlascalan Spies. — Peace
with the Republic. — Embassy from Montezuma . 446
Spaniards scour the Country 446
Success of the Foray . 447
Discontents in the Camp 448
Representations of the Malecontents 449
Reply of Cortes 450
Difficulties of the Enterprise 452
Mutilation of the Spies 453
Interview with the Tlascalan Chief 455
Peace with the Republic ....*.. 456
Embassy from Montezuma 457
Declines to receive the Spaniards 458
They advance towards the City 460
CHAPTER V.
Spaniards enter Tlascala. — Description of the Capi-
tal. — Attempted Conversion. — Aztec Embassy. —
Invited to Cholula 461
Spaniards enter Tlascala ....... 461
Rejoicings on their Arrival 462
Description of Tlascala 463
Its Houses and Streets 464
Its Fairs and Police 464
Divisions of the City 465
Wild Scenery round Tlascala 465
Character of the Tlascalans . 466
Vigilance of Cortes ........ 467
Attempted Conversion . 468
Resistance of the Natives 468
Zeal of Cortes 469
Prudence of the Friar 469
CONTENTS. xxxi
PAGE
Character of Olmedo 470
Mass celebrated in Tlascala 471
The Indian Maidens 471
Aztec Embassy 472
Power of Montezuma 473
Embassy from Ixtlilxochiti 474
Deputies from Cholula 475
Invitation to Cholula ........ 476
Prepare to leave Tlascala . 476
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
MAPS.
The maps for this work are the result of a laborious investigation
by a skilful and competent hand. Humboldt's are the only maps of
New Spain which can lay claim to the credit even of tolerable accu-
racy. They have been adopted as the basis of those for the present
history ; and an occasional deviation from them has been founded on
a careful comparison with the verbal accounts of Gomara, Bernal
Diaz, Clavigero, and, above all, of Cortes, illustrated by his meagre
commentator, Lorenzana. Of these, Cortes is generally the most full
and exact in his statement of distances, though it is to be regretted
that he does not more frequently afford a hint as to the bearings of the
places. As it is desirable to present the reader with a complete and
unembarrassed view of the route of Cortes, the names of all other
places than those which occur in this work have been discarded, while
a considerable number have been now introduced which are not to be
found on any previous chart. The position of these must necessarily
be, in some degree, hypothetical ; but, as it has been determined by a
study of the narratives of contemporary historians and by the measure-
ment of distances, the result, probably, cannot in any instance be much
out of the way. The ancient names have been retained, so as to
present a map of the country as it was at the time of the Conquest.
PORTRAIT PREFIXED TO VOLUME FIRST.
This engraving of Cortes was taken from a full-length portrait, pre-
sented to me by my friend Don Angel Calderon de la Barca, during
his residence as minister to Mexico. It is a copy, and, as I am
assured, a very faithful one, from the painting in the Hospital of Jesus.
This painting is itself a copy from one taken, probably, a few years
before the death of Cortes, on his last visit to Spain. What has be-
xxxii
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxm
come of the original is not known. That in Mexico was sent there
by one of the family of Monteleone, descendants of the Conqueror,
as appears from his arms, which the painter has introduced in a corner
of the picture. This seems to be regarded by the family as the best
portrait of the Conqueror, and a copy, like that in my possession, has
been recently made for the present Duke of Monteleone in Italy. It
has never before been engraved.
PORTRAIT PREFIXED TO VOLUME SECOND.
The original portrait was said to have been painted by an artist
named Maldonado, who came over to Mexico at the time of the Con-
quest. It belonged to the Counts of Miravalle, and, not many years
since, came into the possession of Mr. Smith Wilcox, consul from the
United States to Mexico. Of the authenticity of this portrait I have
received opposite opinions, and these, too, from the most respectable
sources in Mexico ; the one representing it as undoubtedly genuine,
the other regarding it as an ideal portrait, painted after the Conquest,
to adorn the halls of the Counts of Miravalle, and to flatter their
pride by the image of their royal progenitor. The countenance must
be admitted to wear a tinge of soft and not unpleasing melancholy,
quite in harmony with the fortunes of the unhappy monarch.
PORTRAIT PREFIXED TO VOLUME THIRD.
This likeness of Cortes was originally engraved for that inquisitive
scholar and industrious collector, Don Antonio Uguina, of Madrid,
from what he considered the best portrait of Cortes. The original is,
I am informed, the same portrait which now hangs in the Museo,
among the series of viceroys, at Mexico. It must have been taken at
a much earlier period of life than the portrait in the Hospital of Jesus,
in which both the hair and beard are somewhat grizzled with years.
The expression of the countenance, of a higher and more intellectual
cast than the preceding, has a quiet, contemplative air, not to have
been expected in one of the stirring character of Cortes.
ARMS OF CORTES.
The stamp on the back of the work represents the arms granted by
letters patent to Cortes by the Emperor Charles V., March 7, 1525.
In the instrument it is stated that the double-headed eagle is given
2*
xxxiv f MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
as the arms of the empire ; the golden lion, in memory of the courage
and constancy shown by Cortes in the conquest of Mexico ; the three
gold crowns indicate the three monarchs whom he successively
opposed in the capital of Mexico ; the city represents that capital ;
and the seven heads held together by a chain, on the border of the
shield, denote so many Indian princes whom he subdued in the
Valley.
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BOOK FIRST.
INTRODUCTION.
PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE AZTEC
CIVILIZATION.
CONQUEST OF MEXICO.
BOOK I.
INTRODUCTION.
VIEW OF THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT MEXICO. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS. PRIMI-
TIVE RACES. — AZTEC EMPIRE.
Of all that extensive empire which once acknowl-
edged the authority of Spain in the New World, no
portion, for interest and importance, can be compared
with Mexico ; — and this equally, whether we consider
the variety of its soil and climate ; the inexhaustible
stores of its mineral wealth ; its scenery, grand and
picturesque beyond example; the character of its
ancient inhabitants, not only far surpassing in intel-
ligence that of the other North American races, but
reminding us, by their monuments, of the primitive
civilization of Egypt and Hindostan ; or, lastly, the
peculiar circumstances of its Conquest, adventurous
and romantic as any legend devised by Norman or
Italian bard of chivalry. It is the purpose of the
present narrative to exhibit the history of this Con-
Vol. I.— A I
2 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
quest, and that of the remarkable man by whom it
was achieved.
But, in order that the reader may have a better
understanding of the subject, it will be well, before
entering on it, to take a general survey of the political
and social institutions of the races who occupied the
land at the time of its discovery.
The country of the ancient Mexicans, or Aztecs as
they were called, formed but a very small part of
the extensive territories comprehended in the modern
republic of Mexico. 1 Its boundaries cannot be defined
with certainty. They were much enlarged in the latter
days of the empire, when they may be considered as
reaching from about the eighteenth degree north, to
the twenty-first, on the Atlantic ; and from the four-
teenth to the nineteenth, including a very narrow
strip, on the Pacific* In its greatest breadth, it could
1 Extensive indeed, if we may trust Archbishop Lorenzana, who
tells us, " It is doubtful if the country of New Spain does not border
on Tartary and Greenland ; — by the way of California, on the former,
and by New Mexico, on the latter " ! Historia de Nueva-Espafia
(Mexico, 1770), p. 38, nota.
B I have conformed to the limits fixed by Clavigero. He has, prob-
ably, examined the subject with more thoroughness and fidelity than
most of his countrymen, who differ from him, and who assign a more
liberal extent to the monarchy. (See his Storia antica del Messico
(Cesena, 1780), dissert. 7.) The abbe\ however, has not informed his
readers on what frail foundations his conclusions rest. The extent of
the Aztec empire is to be gathered from the writings of historians
since the arrival of the Spaniards, and from the picture-rolls of tribute
paid by the conquered cities ; both sources extremely vague and
defective. See the MSS. of the Mendoza collection, in Lord Kings-
borough's magnificent publication (Antiquities of Mexico, comprising
Facsimiles of Ancient Paintings and Hieroglyphics, together with the
Monuments of New Spain. London, 1830). The difficulty of the
ANCIENT MEXICO. 3
not exceed five degrees and a half, dwindling, as it
approached its southeastern limits, to less than two.
It covered, probably, less than sixteen thousand square
leagues. 3 Yet such is the remarkable formation of this
country, that, though not more than twice as large as
New England, it presented every variety of climate,
and was capable of yielding nearly every fruit, found
between the equator and the Arctic circle.
All along the Atlantic, the country is bordered by a
broad tract, called the tierra caliente, or hot region,
which has the usual high temperature of equinoctial
lands. Parched and sandy plains are intermingled
with others, of exuberant fertility, almost impervious
from thickets of aromatic shrubs and wild flowers, in
the midst of which tower up trees of that magnificent
inquiry is much increased by the fact of the conquests having been
made, as will be seen hereafter, by the united arms of three powers,
so that it is not always easy to tell to which party they eventually
belonged. The affair is involved in so much uncertainty that Clavi-
gero, notwithstanding the positive assertions in his text, has not ven-
tured, in his map, to define the precise limits of the empire, either
towards the north, where it mingles with the Tezcucan empire, or
towards the south, where, indeed, he has fallen into the egregious
blunder of asserting that, while the Mexican territory reached to the
fourteenth degree, it did not include any portion of Guatemala. (See
torn. i. p. 29, and torn. iv. dissert. 7.) The Tezcucan chronicler
Ixtlilxochitl puts in a sturdy claim for the paramount empire of his
own nation. Historia Chichimeca, MS., cap. 39, 53, et alibi.
3 Eighteen to twenty thousand, according to Humboldt, who con-
siders the Mexican territory to have been the same with that occupied
by the modern intendancies of Mexico, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca,
and Valladolid. (Essai politique sur le Royaume de Nouvelle-
Espagne (Paris, 1825), torn. i. p. 196.) This last, however, was all.
or nearly all, included in the rival kingdom of Michoacan, as he
himself more correctly states in another part of his work. Comp.
torn. ii. p. 164.
4 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
growth which is found only within the tropics. In
this wilderness of sweets lurks the fatal malaria, en-
gendered, probably, by the decomposition of rank
vegetable substances in a hot and humid soil. The
season of the bilious fever, — vbmito, as it is called, —
which scourges these coasts, continues from the spring
to the autumnal equinox, when it is checked by the
cold winds that descend from Hudson's Bay. These
winds in the winter season frequently freshen into
tempests, and, sweeping down the Atlantic coast and
the winding Gulf of Mexico, burst with the fury of a
hurricane on its unprotected shores, and on the neigh-
boring West India islands. Such are the mighty spells
with which Nature has surrounded this land of enchant-
ment, as if to guard the golden treasures locked up
within its bosom. The genius and enterprise of man
have proved more potent than her spells.
After passing some twenty leagues across this burn-
ing region, the traveller finds himself rising into a
purer atmosphere. His limbs recover their elasticity.
He breathes more freely, for his senses are not now
oppressed by the sultry heats and intoxicating perfumes
of the valley. The aspect of nature, too, has changed,
and his eye no longer revels among the gay variety of
colors with which the landscape was painted there.
The vanilla, the indigo, and the flowering cacao-groves
disappear as he advances. The sugar-cane and the
glossy-leaved banana still accompany him ; and, when
he has ascended about four thousand feet, he sees in
the unchanging verdure, and the rich foliage of the
liquid-amber tree, that he has reached the height where
clouds and mists settle, in their passage from the Mex-
CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS. 5
ican Gulf. This is the region of perpetual humidity ;
but he welcomes it with pleasure, as announcing his
escape from the influence of the deadly vbmito.* He
has entered the tierra templada, or temperate region
whose character resembles that of the temperate zone
of the globe. The features of the scenery become
grand, and even terrible. His road sweeps along the
base of mighty mountains, once gleaming with volcanic
fires, and still resplendent in their mantles of snow,
which serve as beacons to the mariner, for many a
league at sea. All around he beholds traces of their
ancient combustion, as his road passes along vast tracts
of lava, bristling in the innumerable fantastic forms
into which the fiery torrent has been thrown by the
obstacles in its career. Perhaps, at the same moment,
as he casts his eye down some steep slope, or almost
unfathomable ravine, on the margin of the road, he
sees their depths glowing with the rich blooms and
enamelled vegetation of the tropics. Such are the
singular contrasts presented, at the same time, to the
senses, in this picturesque region !
Still pressing upwards, the traveller mounts into
other climates, favorable to other kinds of cultivation.
4 The traveller who enters the country across the dreary sand-hills
of Vera Cruz will hardly recognize the truth of the above descrip-
tion. He must look for it in other parts of the tierra caliente. Of
recent tourists, no one has given a more gorgeous picture of the
impressions made on his senses by these sunny regions than Latrobe,
who came on shore at Tampico (Rambler in Mexico (New York,
1836), chap. 1), — a traveller, it may be added, whose descriptions of
man and nature in our own country, where we can judge, are distin-
guished by a sobriety and fairness that entitle him to confidence in
his delineation of other countries.
I*
6 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
The yellow maize, or Indian corn, as we usually call it,
has continued to follow him up from the lowest level ;
but he now first sees fields of wheat, and the other
European grains brought into the country by the Con-
querors. Mingled with them, he views the plantations
of the aloe or maguey {agave Americana), applied to
such various and important uses by the Aztecs. The
oaks now acquire a sturdier growth, and the dark
forests of pine announce that he has entered the tierra
fria, or cold region, — the third and last of the great
natural terraces into which the country is divided.
When he has climbed to the height of between seven
and eight thousand feet, the weary traveller sets his
foot on the summit of the Cordillera of the Andes, —
the colossal range that, after traversing South America
and the Isthmus of Darien, spreads out, as it enters
Mexico, into that vast sheet of table-land which main-
tains an elevation of more than six thousand feet, for
the distance of nearly two hundred leagues, until it
gradually declines in the higher latitudes of the north. 5
Across this mountain rampart a chain of volcanic
hills stretches, in a westerly direction, of still more
stupendous dimensions, forming, indeed, some of the
highest land on the globe. Their peaks, entering the
limits of perpetual snow, diffuse a grateful coolness over
the elevated plateaus below; for these last, though
termed "cold," enjoy a climate the mean temperature
of which is not lower than that of the central parts of
S This long extent of country varies in elevation from 5570 to 8856
feet, — equal to the height of the passes of Mount Cenis or the Great St.
Bernard. The table-land stretches still three hundred leagues farther,
before it declines to a level of 2624 feet. Humboldt, Essai politique,
torn. i. pp. 157, 255.
CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS. 7
Italy. 6 The air is exceedingly dry; the soil, though
naturally good, is rarely clothed with the luxuriant
vegetation of the lower regions. It frequently, indeed,
has a parched and barren aspect, owing partly to the
greater evaporation which takes place on these lofty
plains, through the diminished pressure of the atmos-
phere, and partly, no doubt, to the want of trees to
shelter the soil from the fierce influence of the summer
sun. In the time of the Aztecs, the table-land was
thickly covered with larch, oak, cypress, and other
forest trees, the extraordinary dimensions of some of
which, remaining to the present day, show that the
curse of barrenness in later times is chargeable more
on man than on nature. Indeed, the early Spaniards
made as indiscriminate war on the forest as did our
Puritan ancestors, though with much less reason.
After once conquering the country, they had no lurk-
ing ambush to fear from the submissive, semi-civilized
Indian, and were not, like our forefathers, obliged to
keep watch and ward for a century. This spoliation
of the ground, however, is said to have been pleasing
to their imaginations, as it reminded them of the plains
of their own Castile, — the table-land of Europe ; 7 where
6 About 62 Fahrenheit, or 17 Reaumur. (Humboldt, Essai po-
litique, torn. i. p. 273.) The more elevated plateaus of the table-land,
as the Valley of Toluca, about 8500 feet above the sea, have a stern
climate, in which the thermometer, during a great part of the day,
rarely rises beyond 45 F. Idem (loc. cit.), and Malte-Brun (Univer-
sal Geography, Eng. trans., book 83), who is, indeed, in this part of
his work, but an echo of the former writer.
1 The elevation of the Castiles, according to the authority repeatedly
cited, is about 350 toises, or 2100 feet above the ocean. (Humboldt's
Dissertation, apud Laborde, Itineraire descriptif de l'Espagne (Paris,
1827), torn. i. p. 5.) It is rare to find plains in Europe of so great a height.
8 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
the nakedness of the landscape forms the burden of
every traveller's lament who visits that country.
Midway across the continent, somewhat nearer the
Pacific than the Atlantic Ocean, at an elevation of
nearly seven thousand five hundred feet, is the cele-
brated Valley of Mexico. It is of an oval form, about
sixty-seven leagues in circumference, 8 and is encom-
passed by a towering rampart of porphyritic rock,
which nature seems to have provided, though ineffect-
ually, to protect it from invasion.
The soil, once carpeted with a beautiful verdure and
thickly sprinkled with stately trees, is often bare, and, in
many places, white with the incrustation of salts caused
by the draining of the waters. Five lakes are spread
over the Valley, occupying one-tenth of its surface. 9
On the opposite borders of the largest of these basins,
much shrunk in its dimensions 10 since the days of the
8 Archbishop Lorenzana estimates the circuit of the Valley at ninety
leagues, correcting at the same time the statement of Cortes, which
puts it at seventy, very near the truth, as appears from the result of
M. de Humboldt's measurement, cited in the text. Its length is about
eighteen leagues, by twelve and a half in breadth. (Humboldt, Essai
politique, torn. ii. p. 29. — Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva-Espaiia, p. 101.)
Humboldt's map of the Valley of Mexico forms the third in his " Atlas
g^ographique et physique," and, like all the others in the collection,
will be found of inestimable value to the traveller, the geologist, and
the historian.
9 Humboldt, Essai politique, torn. ii. pp. 29, 44-49. — Malte-Brun,
book 85. This latter geographer assigns only 6700 feet for the level
of the Valley, contradicting himself (comp. book 83), or rather Hum-
boldt, to whose pages he helps himself plenis manibus, somewhat too
liberally, indeed, for the scanty references at the bottom of his page.
10 Torquemada accounts in part for this diminution by supposing
that, as God permitted the waters, which once covered the whole
earth, to subside after mankind had been nearly exterminated for their
PRIMITIVE RACES. g
Aztecs, stood the cities of Mexico and Tezcuco, the
capitals of the two most potent and flourishing states
of Anahuac, whose history, with that of the mysterious
races that preceded them in the country,* exhibits
iniquities, so he allowed the waters of the Mexican lake to subside, in
token of good will and reconciliation, after the idolatrous races of the
land had been destroyed by the Spaniards ! (Monarchia Indiana
(Madrid, 1723), torn. i. p. 309.) Quite as probable, if not as orthodox,
an explanation, may be found in the active evaporation of these upper
regions, and in the fact of an immense drain having been constructed,
during the lifetime of the good father, to reduce the waters of the
principal lake and protect the capital from inundation.
* [It is perhaps to be regretted that, instead of a meagre notice of the
Toltecs with a passing allusion to earlier races, the author did not
give a separate chapter to the history of the country during the ages
preceding the Conquest. That history, it is true, resting on tradition
or on questionable records mingled with legendary and mythological
relations, is full of obscurity and doubt. But, whatever its uncertainty
in regard to details, it presents a mass of general facts supported by
analogy and by the stronger evidence of language and of the existing
relics of the past. The number and diversity of the architectural and
other remains found on the soil of Mexico and the adjacent regions,
and the immense variety of the spoken languages, with the vestiges of
others that have passed out of use, — all perhaps derived originally from
a common stock, but exhibiting different stages of development or
decay, and capable of being classified into several distinct families, —
point to conclusions that render the subject one of the most attractive
fields for critical investigation. These concurrent testimonies leave no
doubt that, like portions of the Old World similarly favored in regard
to climate, soil, and situation, the central regions of America were
occupied from a very remote period- by nations which made distinct
advances in civilization, and passed through a cycle of revolutions
comparable to that of which the Valley of the Euphrates and other
parts of Asia were anciently the scene. The useful arts were known
and practised, wealth was accumulated, social systems exhibiting a
certain refinement and a peculiar complexity were organized, states
were established which flourished, decayed, — either from the effects of
A*
IO AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
some of the nearest approaches to civilization to be met
with anciently on the North American continent.
Of these races the most conspicuous were the Toltecs.
Advancing from a northerly direction, but from what
region is uncertain,* they entered the territory of Ana-
isolation or an inherent incapacity for continuance, — and were finally
overthrown by invaders, by whom the experiment was repeated, though
not always with equal success. Some of these nations passed away,
leaving no trace but their names ; others, whose very names are un-
known, left mysterious monuments imbedded in the soil or records
that are undecipherable. Of those that still remain, comprising about
a dozen distinct races speaking a hundred and twenty different dialects,
we have the traditions preserved either in their own records or in those
of the Spanish discoverers. The task of constructing out of these mate-
rials a history shorn of the adornments of mythology and fable has been
attempted by the Abb^ Brasseur de Bourbourg (Histoire des Nations
civilisees du Mexique et de l'Amerique-Centrale, durant les Siecles
anterieurs a Christophe Colomb, 4 vols., Paris, 1857-59), an di whatever
may be thought of the method he has pursued, his research is un-
questionable, and his views — very different from those which he has
since put forth — merit attention. A more practical effort has been
made by Don Manuel Orozco y Berra to trace the order, diffusion,
and relations of the various races by the differences, the intermixtures,
and the geographical limits of their languages. (Geografia de las
Lenguas y Carta etnografica de Mexico, precedidas de un Ensayo de
Clasificacion de las mismas Lenguas y de Apuntes para las Inmigra-
ciones de las Tribus, Mexico, 1864.) — ED.]
* [The uncertainty is not diminished by our being told that Tollan,
Tullan, Tulan, or Tula (called also Tlapallan and Huehuetlapallan)
was the original seat of this people, since we are still left in doubt
whether the country so designated — like Aztlan, the supposed point
of departure of the Aztecs — is to be located in New Mexico, Cali-
fornia, the northwestern extremity of America, or in Asia, M. Bras-
seur de Bourbourg (whose later speculations, in which the name
plays a conspicuous part, will be noticed more appropriately in the
Appendix) found in the Quiche manuscripts mention of four Tollans,
one of them " in the east, on the other side of the sea." " But," he adds,
"in what part of the world is it to be placed? C'est fa encore unt
PRIMITIVE RACES. n
huac," probably before the close of the seventh century.
Of course, little can be gleaned with certainty respect-
11 Anahuac, according to Humboldt, comprehended only the coun-
try between the fourteenth and twenty-first degrees of north latitude.
question bien difficile & resoudre." (Hist, des Nations civilisees
du Mexique, torn. i. pp. 167, 168.) Nor will the etymology much
help us. According to Buschmann, Tollan is derived from to/in,
reed, and signifies " place of reeds," — " Ort der Binsen, Platz mit
Binsen gewachsen, juncetum." (Uber die aztekischen Ortsnamen,
S. 682.) He refers, however, to a different derivation, suggested by a
writer who has made it the basis of one of those extraordinary theo-
ries which are propounded from time to time, to account for the first
diffusion of the human race, and more particularly for the original
settlement of America. According to this theory, the cradle of man-
kind was the Himalayan Mountains. " But the collective name of
these lofty regions was very anciently designated by appellations the
roots of which were Tal, Tol, Tul, meaning tall, high, . . . as it does
yet in many languages, the English, Chinese, and Arabic for instance.
Such were Tolo, T'hala, Talaha, Tulan, etc., in the old Sanscrit and
primitive languages of Asia. Whence came the Asiatic Atlas and
also the Atlantes of the Greeks, who, spreading through the world
westerly, gave these names to many other places and nations. . . .
The Talas or Atlantes occupied or conquered Europe and Africa, nay,
went to America in very early times. ... In Greece they became
Atalantes, Talautians of Epirus, Aetolians. . . . They gave name to
Italy, Aitala meaning land eminent, ... to the Atlantic Ocean, and
to the great Atlantis, or America, called in the Hindu books Atala
or Tala-tolo, the fourth world, where dwelt giants or powerful men.
. . . America is also filled with their names and deeds from Mexico
and Carolina to Peru: the Tol-tecas, people of Tol, and Aztlan,
Otolum near Palenque, many towns of Tula and Tolu ; the Talas of
Michuacan, the Matalans, Atalans, Tulukis, etc., of North America."
(C. S. Rafinesque, Atlantic Journal, Philadelphia, 1832-33.) It need
hardly be added that Tula has also been identified with the equally
unknown and long-sought-for ultima Thule, with the simplifying effect
of bringing two streams of inquiry into one channel. Meanwhile, by
a different kind of criticism, the whole question is dissipated into thin
air, Tollan and Aztlan being resolved into names of mere mythical
12 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
ing a people whose written records have perished, and
who are known to us only through the traditionary
legends of the nations that succeeded them." By the
(Essai politique, torn. i. p. 197.) According to Clavigero, it included
nearly all since known as New Spain. (Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p.
27.) Veytia uses it, also, as synonymous with New Spain. (Historia
antigua de Mejico (Mejico, 1836), torn. i. cap. 12.) The first of these
writers probably allows too little, as the latter do too much, for its
boundaries. Ixtlilxochitl says it extended four hundred leagues south
of the Otomi country. (Hist. Chichimeca, MS., cap. 73.) The word
Anahuac signifies near the water. It was, probably, first applied to
the country around the lakes in the Mexican Valley, and gradually
extended to the remoter regions occupied by the Aztecs and the other
semi-civilized races. Or possibly the name may have been intended,
as Veytia suggests (Hist, antig., lib. 1, cap. i), to denote the land
between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific.®
18 Clavigero talks of Boturini's having written " on the faith of the
Toltec historians." (Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p. 128.) But that
scholar does not pretend to have ever met with a Toltec manuscript
himself, and had heard of only one in the possession of Ixtlilxochitl.
(See his Idea de una nueva Historia general de la America Septentrional
(Madrid, 1746), p. no.) The latter writer tells us that his account of
the Toltec and Chichimec races was " derived from interpretation"
import, and the regions thus designated transferred from the earth to
the bright domain of the sky, from which the descriptions in the
legends appear to have been borrowed. See Brinton, Myths of the
New World, pp. 88, 89. — ED.]
* [This suggestion of Veytia is unworthy of attention, — refuted by
the actual application and appropriateness of the name, and by the
state of geographical knowledge and ideas at the period when it must
have originated. A modern traveller, describing the appearance of
the great plains as seen from the summit of Popocatepetl, remarks,
" Even now that the lakes have shrunk to a fraction of their former
size, we could see the fitness of the name given in old times to the
Valley of Mexico, Anahuac, that is, By the water-side." Tylor, Ana-
huac : or Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modem (London,
1861), p. 270.— Ed.]
PRIMITIVE RACES.
13
general agreement of these, however, the Toltecs were
well instructed in agriculture and many of the most
useful mechanic arts ; were nice workers of metals ;
invented the complex arrangement of time adopted by
the Aztecs ; and, in short, were the true fountains of
the civilization which distinguished this part of the
continent in later times. 13 They established their capi-
tal at Tula, north of the Mexican Valley, and the re-
mains of extensive buildings were to be discerned there
at the time of the Conquest. 14 The noble ruins of
religious and other edifices, still to be seen in various
parts of New Spain, are referred to this people, whose
(probably of the Tezcucan paintings), " and from the traditions of old
men;" poor authority for events which had passed centuries before.
Indeed, he acknowledges that their narratives were so full of absurdity
and falsehood that he was obliged to reject nine-tenths of them. (See
his Relaciones, MS., no. 5.) The cause of truth would not have
suffered much, probably, if he had rejected nine-tenths of the re-
mainder.*
»3 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 2. — Idem, Relaciones, MS.,
no. 2. — Sahagun, Historia general de las Cosas de Nueva-Espafia
(Mexico, 1829), lib. 10, cap. 29. — Veytia, Hist, antig., lib. 1, cap. 27.
M Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 10, cap. 29.
* [Ixtlilxochitl's language does not necessarily imply that he con-
sidered any of the relations he had received as false or absurd, nor
does he say that he had rejected nine-tenths of them. What he has
written is, he asserts, " the true history of the Toltecs," though it does
not amount to nine-tenths of the whole (" de lo que ello fue"), i.e.,
of what had been contained in the original records ; these records hav-
ing perished, and he himself having abridged the accounts he had
been able to obtain of their contents, as well for the sake of brevity
as because of the marvellous character of the relations (" son tan
estranas las cosas y tan peregrinas y nunca oidas"). The sources of
his information are also incorrectly described; but a further mention
of them will be found in a note at the end of this Book. — Ed.]
Vol. I.— 2
i 4 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
name, Toltec, has passed into a synonym for architect. 11
Their shadowy history reminds us of those primitive
races who preceded the ancient Egyptians in the march
of civilization ; fragments of whose monuments, as they
are seen at this day, incorporated with the buildings
of the Egyptians themselves, give to these latter the
appearance of almost modern constructions. 16
After a period of four centuries, the Toltecs, who
had extended their sway over the remotest borders of
Anahuac, 17 having been greatly reduced, it is said, by
famine, pestilence, and unsuccessful wars, disappeared
from the land as silently and mysteriously as they had
entered it. A few of them still lingered behind, but
much the greater number, probably, spread over the
region of Central America and the neighboring isles ;
and the traveller now speculates on the majestic ruins
of Mitla and Palenque, as possibly the work of this
extraordinary people. 18 *
X S Sahagun, ubi supra. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. i, cap. 14.
16 Description de l'fegypte (Paris, 1809), Antiquites, torn. i. cap. 1.
Veytia has traced the migrations of the Toltecs with sufficient industry,
scarcely rewarded by the necessarily doubtful credit of the results.
Hist, antig., lib. 2, cap. 21-33.
'7 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 73.
18 Veytia, Hist, antig., lib. 1, cap. 33. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich.,
MS., cap. 3. — Idem, Relaciones, MS., nos. 4, 5. — Father Torque-
mada — perhaps misinterpreting the Tezcucan hieroglyphics — has ac-
counted for this mysterious disappearance of the Toltecs by such
fee-faw-fum stories of giants and demons as show his appetite for the
marvellous was fully equal to that of any of his calling. See his
Monarch. Ind., lib. 1, cap. 14.
* [This supposition, neither adopted nor rejected in the text, was,
as Mr. Tylor remarks, " quite tenable at the time that Prescott wrote,"
being founded on the statements of early writers and partially sup-
PRIMITIVE RACES. 15
After the lapse of another hundred years, a numer-
ous and rude tribe, called the Chichimecs, entered the
deserted country from the regions of the far North-
west. They were speedily followed by other races, of
higher civilization, perhaps of the same family with
the Toltecs, whose language they appear to have spoken.
The most noted of these were the Aztecs or Mexicans,
and the Acolhuans. The latter, better known in later
times by the name of Tezcucans, from their capital,
Tezcuco, 19 on the eastern border of the Mexican lake,
*9 Tezcuco signifies "place of detention;" as several of the tribes
who successively occupied Anahuac were said to have halted some
time at the spot. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 10*
ported by the conclusions of Mr. Stephens, who believed that the
ruined cities of Oaxaca, Chiapa, Yucatan, and Guatemala dated from
a comparatively recent period, and were still flourishing at the time of
the Spanish Conquest ; and that their inhabitants, the ancestors, as he
contends, of the degenerate race that now occupies the soil, were of
the same stock and spoke the same language as the Mexicans. (Inci-
dents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan.) But these
opinions have been refuted by later investigators. Orozco y Berra, in
an elaborate and satisfactory examination of the question, discusses
all the evidence relating to it, compares the remains in the southern
provinces with those of the Valley of Mexico, points out the essential
differences in the architecture, sculpture, and inscriptions, and arrives
at the conclusion that there was " no point of contact or resemblance "
between the two civilizations. He considers that of the southern
provinces, though of a far higher grade, as long anterior in time to
the Toltec domination, — the work of a people which had passed away,
under the assaults of barbarism, at a period prior to all traditions,
leaving no name and no trace of their existence save those monu-
ments which, neglected and forgotten by their successors, have become
the riddle of later generations. Geografia de las Lenguas de Mexico,
pp. 122-131. See also Tylor, Anahuac, p. 189, et seq. — Ed.]
* [" "Ober die Etymologie lasst sich nichts sicheres sagen," says
Buschmann, " so zuversichtlich auch Prescott, wohl nach Ixtlilxochitl,
1 6 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
were peculiarly fitted, by their comparatively mild
religion and manners, for receiving the tincture of
civilization which could be derived from the few Tol-
tecs that still remained in the country.* This, in their
turn, they communicated to the barbarous Chichimecs,
a large portion of whom became amalgamated with
the new settlers as one nation. 20
30 The historian speaks, in one page, of the Chichimecs burrowing
in caves ; or, at best, in cabins of straw, and, in the next, talks gravely
of their sehoras, infantas, and caballeros /f Ibid., cap. 9, et seq. —
Veytia, Hist, antig., lib. 2, cap. 1-10. — Camargo, Historia de Tlascala,
MS.
den Namen durch place of detention iibersetzt." Uber die aztekischen
Ortsnamen, S. 697. — Ed.]
* [It is difficult to reconcile the two statements that the Toltecs
" were the true fountains of the civilization which distinguished this part
of the continent in later times," and that they " disappeared from the
land as silently and mysteriously as they had entered it," leaving an
interval of more than a century before the appearance of the Aztecs
and the Acolhuans. If the latter received from the former the knowl-
edge of those arts in which they speedily rivalled them, it must have
been by more direct, communication and transmission than can be
inferred from the mention of a small fraction of the Toltec population
as remaining in the country, — a fact which has itself the appearance
of having been invented to meet the difficulty. Orozco y Berra
compares this transitional period with that which followed the over-
throw of the Roman Empire ; but if in the former case there was, in
his own words, " no conquest, but only an occupation, no war because
no one to contend with," the analogy altogether fails. Brasseur de
Bourbourg reduces the interval between the departure of the Toltecs
and the arrival of the Chichimecs to a few years, and supposes that
a considerable number of the former inhabitants remained scattered
through the Valley. If, however, it be allowable to substitute proba-
bilities for doubtful relations, it is an easier solution to believe that no
interval occurred and that no emigration took place. — Ed.]
f [The confusion arises from the fact that the name of Chichimecs,
originally that of a single tribe, and subsequently of its many offshoots,
PRIMITIVE RACES.
17
Availing themselves of the strength derived, not
only from this increase of numbers, but from their own
superior refinement, the Acolhuans gradually stretched
their empire over the ruder tribes in the north ; while
their capital was filled with a numerous population,
busily employed in many of the more useful and even
elegant arts of a civilized community. In this palmy
state, they were suddenly assaulted by a warlike neigh-
bor, the Tepanecs, their own kindred, and inhabitants
of the same valley as themselves. Their provinces
were overrun, their armies beaten, their king assassin-
ated, and the flourishing city of Tezcuco became the
prize of the victor. From this abject condition the
uncommon abilities of the young prince, Nezahual-
coyotl, the rightful heir to the crown, backed by the
efficient aid of his Mexican allies, at length redeemed
the state, and opened to it a new career of prosperity,
even more brilliant than the former. 21
The Mexicans, with whom our history is principally
concerned, came also, as we have seen, from the remote
regions of the North, — the populous hive of nations
in the New World, as it has been in the Old.* They
21 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 9-20. — Veytia, Hist, antig.,
lib. 2, cap. 29-54.
was also used, like the term barbarians in mediaeval Italy, to designate
successive hordes, of whatever race, being sometimes employed as a
mark of contempt, and sometimes assumed as an honorable appella-
tion. It is found applied to the Otomies, the Toltecs, and many other
races. — Ed.]
* [Some recent writers have contended that Mexico must have been
peopled originally by migrations from the South. Aztec names and
communities, and traces of Toltec settlements long anterior to the
occupation of Anahuac by the same people, are found in several parts
2*
1 8 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
arrived on the borders of Anahuac towards the begin-
ning of the thirteenth century, some time after the
occupation of the land by the kindred races. For a
long time they did not establish themselves in any
permanent residence, but continued shifting their quar-
ters to different parts of the Mexican Valley, enduring
all the casualties and hardships of a migratory life.
On one occasion they were enslaved by a more power-
ful tribe; but their ferocity soon made them formi-
dable to their masters." After a series of wanderings
and adventures which need not shrink from comparison
23 These were the Colhuans, not Acolhuans, with whom Humboldt,
and most writers since, have confounded them.* See his Essai poli-
tique, torn. i. p. 414 ; ii. p. 37.
of Central America. The most primitive traditions, as well as the re-
mains of the earliest civilization, belong also to the same quarter. This
latter fact, however, is considered by Orozco y Berra as itself an evi-
dence of the migrations having been from the North, the first comers
having been naturally attracted southward by a warmer climate and
more fertile soil, or pushed onward in this direction by successive
invasions from behind. Contradictory inferences have in like manner
been drawn from the existence of Aztec remains and settlements in
New Mexico and Arizona. All that can be said with confidence is
that neither of the opposing theories rests on a secure and sufficient
basis. — ED.]
* [Humboldt, strictly speaking, has not confounded the Colhuans with
the Acolhuans, but has written, in the places cited, the latter name for
the former. " Letzterer Name," says Buschmann, " ist der erstere mit
dem Zusatz von atf/Wasser, — Wasser Colhuer." (Uber die aztekischen
Ortsnamen, S. 690.) Yet the two tribes, according to the same au-
thority, were entirely distinct, one alone — though which, he is unable
to determine — being of the Nahuatlac race. Orozco y Berra, how-
ever, makes them both of this stock, the Acolhuans being one of the
main branches, the Colhuans merely the descendants of the Toltec
remnant in Anahuac. — Ed.]
PRIMITIVE RACES. 19
with the most extravagant legends of the heroic ages
of antiquity, they at length halted on the southwestern
borders of the principal lake, in the year 1325. They
there beheld, perched on the stem of a prickly pear,
which shot out from the crevice of a rock that was
washed by the waves, a royal eagle of extraordinary
size and beauty, with a serpent in his talons, and his
broad wings opened to the rising sun. They hailed
the auspicious omen, announced by an oracle as indi-
cating the site of their future city, and laid its founda-
tions by sinking piles into the shallows ; for the low
marshes were half buried under water. On these they
erected their light fabrics of reeds and rushes, and
sought a precarious subsistence from fishing, and from
the wild fowl which frequented the waters, as well as
from the cultivation of such simple vegetables as they
could raise on their floating gardens. The place was
called Tenochtitlan, in token of its miraculous origin,
though only known to Europeans by its other name of
Mexico,* derived from their war-god, Mexitli. 23 The
legend of its foundation is still further commemorated
by the device of the eagle and the cactus, which form
the arms of the modern Mexican republic. Such were
»3 Clavigero gives good reasons for preferring the etymology of
Mexico above noticed, to various others. (See his Stor. del Messico,
torn. i. p. 168, nota.) The name Tenochtitlan signifies tunal (a cac-
tus) on a stone. Esplicacion de la Col. de Mendoza, apud Antiq. of
Mexico, vol. iv.
* [This is not quite correct, since the form used in the letters of
Cortes and other early documents is Temixtitan, which is explained as
a corruption of Tenochtitlan. The letters x and ch are convertible, and
have the same sound, — that of the English sh. Mexico is Mexitl with
the place-designation co, tl final being dropped before an affix. — Ed.]
20 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
the humble beginnings of the Venice of the Western
World. 24
The forlorn condition of the new settlers was made
still worse by domestic feuds. A part of the citizens
seceded from the main body, and formed a separate
community on the neighboring marshes. Thus divided,
it was long before they could aspire to the acquisition
of territory on the main land. They gradually in-
creased, however, in numbers, and strengthened them-
selves yet more by various improvements in their polity
and military discipline, while they established a reputa-
tion for courage as well as cruelty in war which made
their name terrible throughout the Valley. In the
early part of the fifteenth century, nearly a hundred
years from the foundation of the city, an event took
»* " Datur hsec venia antiquitati," says Livy, " ut, miscendo humana
divinis, primordia urbium augustiora faciat." Hist., Prasf. — See, for
the above paragraph, Col. de Mendoza, plate i, apud Antiq. of
Mexico, vol. i., — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 10, — Toribio,
Historia de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8, — Veytia, Hist. antig.,lib.
2, cap. 15. — Clavigero, after a laborious examination, assigns the
following dates to some of the prominent events noticed in the text.
No two authorities agree on them ; and this is not strange, considering
that Clavigero — the most inquisitive of all — does not always agree
with himself. (Compare his dates for the coming of the Acolhuans ;
torn. i. p. 147, and torn, iv., dissert. 2 :) —
A.D.
The Toltecs arrived in Anahuac 648
They abandoned the country 1051
The Chichimecs arrived 1170
The Acolhuans arrived about 1200
The Mexicans reached Tula ........ 1196
They founded Mexico 1325
See his dissert. 2, sec. 12. In the last date, the one of most importance,
he is confirmed by the learned Veytia, who differs from him in all
the others. Hist, antig., lib. 2, cap. 15.
AZTEC EMPIRE. 2I
place which created an entire revolution in the circum-
stances and, to some extent, in the character of the
Aztecs. This was the subversion of the Tezcucan
monarchy by the Tepanecs, already noticed. When
the oppressive conduct of the victors had at length
aroused a spirit of resistance, its prince, Nezahual-
coyotl, succeeded, after incredible perils and escapes,
in mustering such a force as, with the aid of the
Mexicans, placed him on a level with his enemies. In
two successive battles, these were defeated with great
slaughter, their chief slain, and their territory, by one
of those sudden reverses which characterize the wars
of petty states, passed into the hands of the conquerors.
It was awarded to Mexico, in return for its important
services.
Then was formed that remarkable league, which,
indeed, has no parallel in history. It was agreed
between the states of Mexico, Tezcuco, and the neigh-
boring little kingdom of Tlacopan, that they should
mutually support each other in their wars, offensive and
defensive, and that in the distribution of the spoil one-
fifth should be assigned to Tlacopan, and the remainder
be divided, in what proportions is uncertain, between
the other powers. The Tezcucan writers claim an
equal share for their nation with the Aztecs. But this
does not seem to be warranted by the immense increase
of territory subsequently appropriated by the latter.
And we may account for any advantage conceded to
them by the treaty, on the supposition that, however
inferior they may have been originally, they were, at
the time of making it, in a more prosperous condition
than their allies, broken and dispirited by long op-
22 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
pression. What is more extraordinary than the treaty
itself, however, is the fidelity with which it was main-
tained. During a century of uninterrupted warfare
that ensued, no instance occurred where the parties
quarrelled over the division of the spoil, which so often
makes shipwreck of similar confederacies among civil-
ized states. 23
The allies for some time found sufficient occupation
for their arms in their own valley ; but they soon over-
leaped its rocky ramparts, and by the middle of the
fifteenth century, under the first Montezuma, had
spread down the sides of the table-land to the borders
of the Gulf of Mexico. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec
capital, gave evidence of the public prosperity. Its
frail tenements were supplanted by solid structures of
stone and lime. Its population rapidly increased. Its
old feuds were healed. The citizens who had seceded
were again brought under a common government with
the main body, and the quarter they occupied was
a S The loyal Tezcucan chronicler claims the supreme dignity for his
own sovereign, if not the greatest share of the spoil, by this imperial
compact. (Hist. Chich., cap. 32.) Torquemada, on the other hand,
claims one-half of all the conquered lands for Mexico. (Monarch.
Ind., lib. 2, cap. 40.) All agree in assigning only one-fifth to Tlacopan ;
and Veytia (Hist, an tig., lib. 3, cap. 3) and Zurita (Rapport sur les
differentes Classes de Chefs de la Nouvelle-Espagne, trad, de Ternaux
(Paris, 1840), p. 11), both very competent critics, acquiesce in an equal
division between the two principal states in the confederacy. An ode,
still extant, of Nezahualcoyotl, in its Castilian version, bears testimony
to the singular union of the three powers :
" solo se acordaran en las Naciones
lo bien que gobernaron
las ires Cabezas que el Imperio honraron."
Cantares del Emperador
Nezahualcoyotl, MS.
AZTEC EMPIRE.
2 3
permanently connected with the parent city ; the
dimensions of which, covering the same ground, were
much larger than those of the modern capital of
Mexico. 26
Fortunately, the throne was filled by a succession of
able princes, who knew how to profit by their enlarged
resources and by the martial enthusiasm of the nation.
Year after year saw them return, loaded with the spoils
of conquered cities, and with throngs of devoted cap-
tives, to their capital. No state was able long to resist
the accumulated strength of the confederates. At the
beginning of the sixteenth century, just before the
arrival of the Spaniards, the Aztec dominion reached
across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ;
and, under the bold and bloody Ahuitzotl, its arms had
been carried far over the limits already noticed as
defining its permanent territory, into the farthest
corners of Guatemala and Nicaragua. This extent of
empire, however limited in comparison with that of
many other states, is truly wonderful, considering it as
the acquisition of a people whose whole population and
resources had so recently been comprised within the
walls of their own petty city, and considering, more-
over, that the conquered territory was thickly settled
by various races, bred to arms like the Mexicans, and
little inferior to them in social organization. The
history of the Aztecs suggests some strong points of
26 See the plans of the ancient and modern capital, in Bullock's
" Mexico," first edition. The original of the ancient map was obtained
by that traveller from the collection of the unfortunate Boturini ; if,
as seems probable, it is the one indicated on page 13 of his Catalogue,
I find no warrant for Mr. Bullock's statement that it was the one pre-
pared for Cortes by the order of Montezuma.
24 VEYTIA.
resemblance to that of the ancient Romans, not only
in their military successes, but in the policy which led
to them. 27
=7 Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. i. lib. 2. — Torquemada, Mo-
narch. Ind., torn. i. lib. 2. — Boturini, Idea, p. 146. — Col. of Mendoza,
Part 1, and Codex Telleriano-Remensis, apud Antiq. of Mexico, vols.
i., vi. — Machiavelli has noticed it as one great cause of the military-
successes of the Romans, " that they associated themselves, in their
wars, with other states, as the principal," and expresses his aston-
ishment that a similar policy should not have been adopted by ambi-
tious republics in later times. (See his Discorsi sopra T. Livio, lib. 2,
cap. 4, apud Opere (Geneva, 1798).) This, as we have seen above, was
the very course pursued by the Mexicans.
The most important contribution, of late years, to the early history
of Mexico is the Historia antigua of the Lie. Don Mariano Veytia,
published in the city of Mexico, in 1836. This scholar was born of
an ancient and highly respectable family at Puebla, 1718. After finish-
ing his academic education, he went to Spain, where he was kindly
received at court. He afterwards visited several other countries of
Europe, made himself acquainted with their languages, and returned
home well stored with the fruits of a discriminating observation and
diligent study. The rest of his life he devoted to letters ; especially
to the illustration of the national history and antiquities. As the
executor of the unfortunate Boturini, with whom he had contracted an
intimacy in Madrid, he obtained access to his valuable collection of
manuscripts in Mexico, and from them, and every other source which
his position in society and his eminent character opened to him, he
composed various works, none of which, however, except the one
before us, has been admitted to the honors of the press. The time
of his death is not given by his editor, but it was probably not later
than 1780.
Veytia's history covers the whole period from the first occupation
of Anahuac to the middle of the fifteenth century, at which point his
labors were unfortunately terminated by his death. In the early portion
he has endeavored to trace the migratory movements and historical
annals of the principal races who entered the country. Every page
bears testimony to the extent and fidelity of his researches ; and, if we
VE YTIA.
25
feel but moderate confidence in the results, the fault is not imputable
to him, so much as to the dark and doubtful nature of the subject. As
he descends to later ages, he is more occupied with the fortunes of the
Tezcucan than with those of the Aztec dynasty, which have been amply
discussed by others of his countrymen. The premature close of his
labors prevented him, probably, from giving that attention to the
domestic institutions of the people he describes, to which they are
entitled as the most important subject of inquiry to the historian. The
deficiency has been supplied by his judicious editor, Orteaga, from
other sources. In the early part of his work, Veytia has explained
the chronological system of the Aztecs, but, like most writers preceding
the accurate Gama, with indifferent success. As a critic, he certainly
ranks much higher than the annalists who preceded him, and, when his
own religion is not involved, shows a discriminating judgment. When
it is, he betrays a full measure of the credulity which still maintains
its hold on too many even of the well-informed of his countrymen.
The editor of the work has given a very interesting letter from the
Abbe Clavigero to Veytia, written when the former was a poor and
humble exile, and in the tone of one addressing a person of high
standing and literary eminence. Both were employed on the same
subject. The writings of the poor abbe, published again and again,
and translated into various languages, have spread his fame throughout
Europe; while the name of Veytia, whose works have been locked
up in their primitive manuscript, is scarcely known beyond the bound-
aries of Mexico.
Vol. I.
CHAPTER II.
SUCCESSION TO THE CROWN. — AZTEC NOBILITY. — JUDI-
CIAL SYSTEM. LAWS AND REVENUES. — MILITARY IN-
STITUTIONS.
The form of government differed in the different
states of Anahuac. With the Aztecs and Tezcucans it
was monarchical and nearly absolute. The two nations
resembled each other so much in their political insti-
tutions that one of their historians has remarked, in
too unqualified a manner indeed, that what is told of
one may be always understood as applying to the
other. 1 I shall direct my inquiries to the Mexican
polity, borrowing an illustration occasionally from that
of the rival kingdom.
The government was an elective monarchy. Four
of the principal nobles, who had been chosen by their
own body in the preceding reign, filled the office of
electors, to whom were added, with merely an honorary
rank, however, the two royal allies of Tezcuco and
Tlacopan. The sovereign was selected from the brothers
of the deceased prince, or, in default of them, from his
nephews. Thus the election was always restricted to
the same family. The candidate preferred must have
distinguished himself in war, though, as in the case of
the last Montezuma, he were a member of the priest-
hood." This singular mode of supplying the throne
* Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36.
2 This was an exception. — In Egypt* also, the king was frequently
(26)
SUCCESSION TO THE CROWN.
27
had some advantages. The candidates received an
education which fitted them for the royal dignity,
while the age at which they were chosen not only
secured the nation against the evils of minority, but
afforded ample means for estimating their qualifications
for the office. The result, at all events, was favorable ;
since the throne, as already noticed, was filled by a
succession of able princes, well qualified to rule over a
warlike and ambitious people. The scheme of elec-
tion, however defective, argues a more refined and cal-
culating policy than was to have been expected from
a barbarous nation. 3
The new monarch was installed in his regal dignity
with much parade of religious ceremony, but not until,
by a victorious campaign, he had obtained a sufficient
number of captives to grace his triumphal entry into
the capital and to furnish victims for the dark and
bloody rites which stained the Aztec superstition.
Amidst this pomp of human sacrifice he was crowned.
The crown, resembling a mitre in its form, and curiously
ornamented with gold, gems, and feathers, was placed
on his head by the lord of Tezcuco, the most powerful
of his royal allies. The title of King, by which the
taken from the warrior caste, though obliged afterwards to be instructed
in the mysteries of the priesthood : 6 <5e £k /xaxifiuv anodedeLyfievog ein9i)f
tyivero tuv lepuv. Plutarch, de Isid. et Osir., sec. 9.
3 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 18 ; lib. II, cap. 27. —
Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p. 112. — Acosta, Naturall and
Morall Historie of the East and West Indies, Eng. trans. (London,
1604). — According to Zurita, an election by the nobles took place only
in default of heirs of the deceased monarch. (Rapport, p. 15.) The
minute historical investigation of Clavigero may be permitted to out-
weigh this general assertion.
28 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
earlier Aztec princes are distinguished by Spanish
writers, is supplanted by that of Emperor in the later
reigns, intimating, perhaps, his superiority over the
confederated monarchies of Tlacopan and Tezcuco.*
The Aztec princes, especially towards the close of
the dynasty, lived in a barbaric pomp, truly Oriental.
Their spacious palaces were provided with halls for the
different councils who aided the monarch in the transac-
tion of business. The chief of these was a sort of privy
council, composed in part, probably, of the four electors
chosen by the nobles after the accession, whose places,
when made vacant by death, were immediately supplied
as before. It was the business of this body, so far as
can be gathered from the very loose accounts given of
it, to advise the king, in respect to the government of
the provinces, the administration of the revenues, and,
indeed, on all great matters of public interest. 5
In the royal buildings were accommodations, also,
for a numerous body-guard of the sovereign, made up
of the chief nobility. It is not easy to determine with
precision, in these barbarian governments, the limits of
the several orders. It is certain there was a distinct
class of nobles, with large landed possessions, who held
the most important offices near the person of the prince,
4 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 6, cap. 9, 10, 14 ; lib. 8, cap.
31, 34. — See, also, Zurita, Rapport, pp. 20-23. — Ixtlilxochitl stoutly
claims this supremacy for his own nation. (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 34.)
His assertions are at variance with facts stated by himself elsewhere, and
are not countenanced by any other writer whom I have consulted.
5 Sahagun, who places the elective power in a much larger body,
speaks of four senators, who formed a state council. (Hist, de Nueva-
Espana, lib. 8, cap. 30.) Acosta enlarges the council beyond the
number of the electors. (Lib. 6, ch. 26.) No two writers agree.
AZTEC NOBILITY.
29
and engrossed the administration of the provinces
and cities. 6 Many of these could trace their descent
from the founders of the Aztec monarchy. According
to some writers of authority, there were thirty great
caciques, who had their residence, at least a part of the
year, in the capital, and who could muster a hundred
thousand vassals each on their estates. 7 Without rely-
ing on such wild statements, it is clear, from the testi-
mony of the Conquerors, that the country was occupied
by numerous powerful chieftains, who lived like inde-
pendent princes on their domains. If it be true that
the kings encouraged, or, indeed, exacted, the residence
of these nobles in the capital, and required hostages in
their absence, it is evident that their power must have
been very formidable. 8
Their estates appear to have been held by various
tenures, and to have been subject to different restric-
tions. Some of them, earned by their own good swords
or received as the recompense of public services, were
held without any limitation, except that the possessors
6 Zurita enumerates four orders of chiefs, all of whom were exempted
from imposts and enjoyed very considerable privileges. He does not
discriminate the several ranks with much precision. Rapport, p. 47,
et seq.
7 See, in particular, Herrera, Historia general de los Hechos de los
Castellanos en las Islas y Tierra firme del Mar Oceano (Madrid, 1730),
dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 12.
8 Carta de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, p. no. —
Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 89; lib. 14, cap. 6. — Clavi-
gero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p. 121. — Zurita, Rapport, pp. 48, 65. —
Ixtlilxochitl (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 34) speaks of thirty great feudal
chiefs, some of them Tezcucan and Tlacopan, whom he styles " grandees
of the empire" I He says nothing of the great tail of 100,000 vassals
to each, mentioned by Torquemada and Herrera.
3*
3 o AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
could not dispose of them to a plebeian. 9 Others were
entailed on the eldest male issue, and, in default of
such, reverted to the crown. Most of them seem to
have been burdened with the obligation of military
service. The principal chiefs of Tezcuco, according
to its chronicler, were expressly obliged to support
their prince with their armed vassals, to attend his
court, and aid him in the council. Some, instead of
these services, were to provide for the repairs of his
buildings, and to keep the royal demesnes in order,
with an annual offering, by way of homage, of fruits
and flowers. It was usual, if we are to believe historians,
for a new king, on his accession, to confirm the investi-
ture of estates derived from the crown. 10
It cannot be denied that we recognize, in all this,
several features of the feudal system, which, no doubt,
lose nothing of their effect under the hands of the
Spanish writers, who are fond of tracing analogies to
European institutions. But such analogies lead some-
times to very erroneous conclusions. The obligation
of military service, for instance, the most essential
principle of a fief, seems to be naturally demanded by
9 Macehual, — a word equivalent to the French word roturier. Nor
could fiefs originally be held by plebeians in France. See Hallam's
Middle Ages (London, 1819), vol. ii. p. 207.
10 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., ubi supra. — Zurita, Rapport, ubi
supra. — Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 122-124. — Torque-
mada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 7. — Gomara, Cronica de Nueva-
Espana, cap. 199, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. — Boturini (Idea, p. 165) carries
back the origin of fiefs in Anahuac to the twelfth century. Carli says,
" Le systeme politique y etoit feodal." In the next page he tells us,
" Personal merit alone made the distinction of the nobility" 1 (Lettres
Americaines, trad. Fr. (Paris, 1788), torn. i. let. 11.) Carli was a
writer of a lively imagination.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM. 31
every government from its subjects. As to minor
points of resemblance, they fall far short of that har-
monious system of reciprocal service and protection
which embraced, in nice gradation, every order of a
feudal monarchy. The kingdoms of Anahuac were in
their nature despotic, attended, indeed, with many miti-
gating circumstances unknown to the despotisms of the
East ; but it is chimerical to look for much in common
— beyond a few accidental forms and ceremonies —
with those aristocratic institutions of the Middle Ages
which made the court of every petty baron the precise
image in miniature of that of his sovereign.
The legislative power, both in Mexico and Tezcuco,
resided wholly with the monarch. This feature of
despotism, however, was in some measure counteracted
by the constitution of the judicial tribunals, — of more
importance, among a rude people, than the legislative,
since it is easier to make good laws for such a com-
munity than to enforce them, and the best laws, badly
administered, are but a mockery. Over each of the
principal cities, with its dependent territories, was
placed a supreme judge, appointed by the crown, with
original and final jurisdiction in both civil and criminal
cases. There was no appeal from his sentence to any
other tribunal, nor even to the king. He held his
office during life ; and any one who usurped his ensigns
was punished with death."
XI This magistrate, who was called cikuacoatl,* was also to audit the
* [This word, a compound of cikuatl, woman, and coatl, serpent,
was the name of a divinity, the mythical mother of the human species.
Its typical application may have had reference to justice, or law, as the
source of social order. — Ed.]
32 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Below this magistrate was a court, established in each
province, and consisting of three members. It held
concurrent jurisdiction with the supreme judge in civil
suits, but in criminal an appeal lay to his tribunal.
Besides these courts, there was a body of inferior
magistrates, distributed through the country, chosen by
the people themselves in their several districts. Their
authority was limited to smaller causes, while the more
important were carried up to the higher courts. There
was still another class of subordinate officers, appointed
also by the people, each of whom was to watch over the
conduct of a certain number of families and report any
disorder or breach of the laws to the higher authorities."
In Tezcuco the judicial arrangements were of a
more refined character ; 13 and a gradation of tribunals
finally terminated in a general meeting or parliament,
accounts of the collectors of the taxes in his district. (Clavigero, Stor.
del Messico, torn. ii. p. 127. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 11, cap.
25.) The Mendoza Collection contains a painting of the courts of
justice under Montezuma, who introduced great changes in them.
(Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i., Plate 70.) According to the interpreter,
an appeal lay from them, in certain cases, to the king's council. Ibid.,
vol. vi. p. 79.
12 Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 127, 128. — Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., ubi supra. — In this arrangement of the more humble
magistrates we are reminded of the Anglo-Saxon hundreds and tith-
ings, especially the latter, the members of which were to watch over
the conduct of the families in their districts and bring the offenders to
justice. The hard penalty of mutual responsibility was not known to
the Mexicans.
J 3 Zurita, so temperate, usually, in his language, remarks that, in the
capital, " Tribunals were instituted which might compare in their
organization with the royal audiences of Castile." (Rapport, p. 93.)
His observations are chiefly drawn from the Tezcucan courts, which
in their forms of procedure, he says, were like the Aztec. (Loc. cit.)
JUDICIAL SYSTEM. ^
consisting of all the judges, great and petty, through-
out the kingdom, held every eighty days in the capital,
over which the king presided in person. This body
determined all suits which, from their importance or
difficulty, had been reserved for its consideration by
the lower tribunals. It served, moreover, as a council
of state, to assist the monarch in the transaction of
public business. 14
Such are the vague and imperfect notices that can be
gleaned, respecting the Aztec tribunals, from the hiero-
glyphical paintings still preserved, and from the most
accredited Spanish writers. These, being usually eccle-
siastics, have taken much less interest in this subject
than in matters connected with religion. They find
some apology, certainly, in the early destruction of
most of the Indian paintings, from which their infor-
mation was, in part, to be gathered.
On the whole, however, it must be inferred that
the Aztecs were sufficiently civilized to evince a solici-
tude for the rights both of property and of persons.
The law, authorizing an appeal to the highest judicature
in criminal matters only, shows an attention to per-
sonal security, rendered the more obligatory by the
extreme severity of their penal code, which would
naturally have made them more cautious of a wrong
J * Boturini, Idea, p. 87. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. n, cap.
26. — Zurita compares this body to the Castilian c6rtes. It would seem,
however, according to him, to have consisted only of twelve principal
judges, besides the king. His meaning is somewhat doubtful. (Rap-
port, pp. 94, 101, 106.) M. de Humboldt, in his account of the Aztec
courts, has confounded them with the Tezcucan. Comp. Vues des
Cordilleres et Monumens des Peuples indigenes de I'Amerique (Paris,
1810), p. 55, and Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 128, 129.
B*
34
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
conviction. The existence of a number of co-ordinate
tribunals, without a central one of supreme authority
to control the whole, must have given rise to very dis-
cordant interpretations of the law in different districts.
But this is an evil which they shared in common with
most of the nations of Europe.
The provision for making the superior judges wholly
independent of the crown was worthy of an enlight-
ened people. It presented the strongest barrier that a
mere constitution could afford against tyranny. It is
not, indeed, to be supposed that, in a government
otherwise so despotic, means could not be found for
influencing the magistrate. But it was a great step to
fence round his authority with the sanction of the law ;
and no one of the Aztec monarchs, so far as I know, is
accused of an attempt to violate it.
To receive presents or a bribe, to be guilty of collu-
sion in any way with a suitor, was punished, in a judge,
with death. Who, or what tribunal, decided as to his
guilt, does not appear. In Tezcuco this was done by
the rest of the court. But the king presided over that
body. The Tezcucan prince Nezahualpilli, who rarely
tempered justice with mercy, put one judge to death
for taking a bribe, and another for determining suits
in his own house, — a capital offence, also, by law. 15
The judges of the higher tribunals were maintained
from the produce of a part of the crown lands, reserved
for this purpose. They, as well as the supreme judge,
*5 "If this should be done now, what an excellent thing it would
be!" exclaims Sahagun's Mexican editor. Hist, de Nueva-Espafia,
torn. ii. p. 304, nota. — Zurita, Rapport, p. 102. — Torquemada, Monarch.
Ind., ubi supra. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 67.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM. 35
held their offices for life. The proceedings in the
courts were conducted with decency and order. The
judges wore an appropriate dress, and attended to
business both parts of the day, dining always, for the
sake of despatch, in an apartment of the same building
where they held their session ; a method of proceeding
much commended by the Spanish chroniclers, to whom
despatch was not very familiar in their own tribunals.
Officers attended to preserve order, and others sum-
moned the parties and produced them in court. No
counsel was employed ; the parties stated their own
case and supported it by their witnesses. The oath of
the accused was also admitted in evidence. The state-
ment of the case, the testimony, and the proceedings
of the trial were all set forth by a clerk, in hieroglyph-
ical paintings, and handed over to the court. The
paintings were executed with so much accuracy that in
all suits respecting real property they were allowed to
be produced as good authority in the Spanish tribunals,
very long after the Conquest ; and a chair for their
study and interpretation was established at Mexico in
1553, which has long since shared the fate of most other
provisions for learning in that unfortunate country. 16
A capital sentence was indicated by a line traced
with an arrow across the portrait of the accused. In
Tezcuco, where the king presided in the court, this,
according to the national chronicler, was done with
16 Zurita, Rapport, pp. 95, ioo, 103. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-
Espana, loc. cit. — Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, pp. 55, 56. — Tor-
quemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 11, cap. 25. — Clavigero says the accused
might free himself by oath: " il reo poteva purgarsi col giuramento."
(Stor. del Messico, torn, ii, p. 129.) What rogue, then, could ever
have been convicted?
36 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
extraordinary parade. His description, which is of
rather a poetical cast, I give in his own words. "In
the royal palace of Tezcuco was a court-yard, on the
opposite sides of which were two halls of justice. In
the principal one, called the 'tribunal of God,' was a
throne of pure gold, inlaid with turquoises and other
precious stones. On a stool in front was placed a
human skull, crowned with an immense emerald of a
pyramidal form, and surmounted by an aigrette of bril-
liant plumes and precious stones. The skull was laid
on a heap of military weapons, shields, quivers, bows,
and arrows. The walls were hung with tapestry, made
of the hair of different wild animals, of rich and va-
rious colors, festooned by gold rings and embroidered
with figures of birds and flowers. Above the throne
was a canopy of variegated plumage, from the centre
of which shot forth resplendent rays of gold and jewels.
The other tribunal, called 'the King's,' was also sur-
mounted by a gorgeous canopy of feathers, on which
were emblazoned the royal arms. Here the sovereign
gave public audience and communicated his despatches.
But when he decided important causes, or confirmed a
capital sentence, he passed to the ' tribunal of God,'
attended .by the fourteen great lords of the realm,
marshalled according to their rank. Then, putting
on his mitred crown, incrusted with precious stones,
and holding a golden arrow, by way of sceptre, in his
left hand, he laid his right upon the skull, and pro-
nounced judgment." 17 All this looks rather fine for
a court of justice, it must be owned. But it is certain
*7 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36. — These various objects
had a symbolical meaning, according to Boturini, Idea, p. 84.
LAWS AND REVENUES.
37
that the Tezcucans, as we shall see hereafter, possessed
both the materials and the skill requisite to work them
up in this manner. Had fhey been a little further
advanced in refinement, one might well doubt their
having the bad taste to do so.
The laws of the Aztecs were registered, and exhib-
ited to the people, in their hieroglyphical paintings.
Much the larger part of them, as in every nation
imperfectly civilized, relates rather to the security of
persons than of property. The great crimes against
society were all made capital. Even the murder of a
slave was punished with death. Adulterers, as among
the Jews, were stoned to death. Thieving, according
to the degree of the offence, was punished by slavery
or death. Yet the Mexicans could have been under
no great apprehension of this crime, since the entrances
to their dwellings were not secured by bolts or fasten-
ings of any kind. It was a capital offence to remove
the boundaries of another's lands; to alter the estab-
lished measures ; and for a guardian not to be able to
give a good account of his ward's property. These
regulations evince a regard for equity in dealings, and
for private rights, which argues a considerable progress
in civilization. Prodigals, who squandered their pat-
rimony, were punished in like manner ; a severe sen-
tence, since the crime brought its adequate punishment
along with it. Intemperance, which was the burden,
moreover, of their religious homilies, was visited with
the severest penalties ; as if they had foreseen in it the
consuming canker of their own as well as of the other
Indian races in later times. It was punished in the
young with death, and in older persons with loss of
Vol. I. — 4
38 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
rank and confiscation of property. Yet a decent con-
viviality was not meant to be proscribed at their fes-
tivals, and they possessed the means of indulging it, in
a mild fermented liquor, called pulque, which is still
popular, not only with the Indian, but the European
population of the country.* 8
The rites of marriage were celebrated with as much
formality as in any Christian country ; and the insti-
tution was held in such reverence that a tribunal was
instituted for the sole purpose of determining questions
relating to it. Divorces could not be obtained until
authorized by a sentence of this court, after a patient
hearing of the parties.
But the most remarkable part of the Aztec code was
that relating to slavery. There were several descrip-
tions of slaves : prisoners taken in war, who were almost
always reserved for the dreadful doom of sacrifice ;
criminals, public debtors, persons who, from extreme
poverty, voluntarily resigned their freedom, and chil-
dren who were sold by their own parents. In the last
instance, usually occasioned also by poverty, it was
18 Paintings of the Mendoza Collection, PL 72, and Interpretation,
ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 87. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind.,
lib. 12, cap. 7. — Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 130-134. —
Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — They could scarcely have been an
intemperate people, with these heavy penalties hanging over them.
Indeed, Zurita bears testimony that those Spaniards who thought
they were greatly erred. (Rapport, p. 112.) M. Ternaux's translation
of a passage of the Anonymous Conqueror, " aucun peuple n'est
aussi sobre " (Recueil de Pieces relatives a la Conquete du Mexique,
ap. Voyages, etc. (Paris, 1838), p. 54), may give a more favorable
impression, however, than that intended by his original, whose remark
is confined to abstemiousness in eating. See the Relatione, ap. Ra-
musio, Raccolta delle Navigationi et Viaggi (Venetia, 1554-1565).
LAWS AND REVENUES.
39
common for the parents, with the master's consent, to
substitute others of their children successively, as they
grew up ; thus distributing the burden as equally as
possible among the different members of the family.
The willingness of freemen to incur the penalties of
this condition is explained by the mild form in which
it existed. The contract of sale was executed in the
presence of at least four witnesses. The services to be
exacted were limited with great precision. The slave
was allowed to have his own family, to hold property,
and even other slaves. His children were free. No
one could be born to slavery in Mexico ; ,9 an honorable
distinction, not known, I believe, in any civilized com-
munity where slavery has been sanctioned. 20 Slaves were
not sold by their masters, unless when these were driven
to it by poverty. They were often liberated by them at
their death, and sometimes, as there was no natural re-
pugnance founded on difference of blood and race, were
married to them. Yet a refractory or vicious slave might
be led into the market, with a collar round his neck,
which intimated his bad character, and there be publicly
sold, and, on a second sale, reserved for sacrifice. 21
10 In ancient Egypt the child of a slave was born free, if the father
were free. (Diodorus, Bibl. Hist., lib. i, sec. 80.) This, though more
liberal than the code of most countries, fell short of the Mexican.
30 In Egypt the same penalty was attached to the murder of a slave
as to that of a freeman. (Ibid., lib. 1, sec. 77.) Robertson speaks of
a class of slaves held so cheap in the eye of the Mexican law that one
might kill them with impunity. (History of America (ed. London,
1776), vol. iii. p. 164.) This, however, was not in Mexico, but in
Nicaragua (see his own authority, Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 3, lib.
4, cap. 2), a distant country, not incorporated in the Mexican empire,
and with laws and institutions very different from those of the latter.
31 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 12, cap. 15 ; lib. 14, cap. 16, 17.
40
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Such are some of the most striking features of the
Aztec code, to which the Tezcucan bore great resem-
blance." With some exceptions, it is stamped with the
severity, the ferocity indeed, of a rude people, hard-
ened by familiarity with scenes of blood, and relying
on physical instead of moral means for the correction
of evil. 23 Still, it evinces a profound respect for the great
principles of morality, and as clear a perception of these
principles as is to be found in the most cultivated nations.
The royal revenues were derived from various sources.
The crown lands, which appear to have been extensive,
made their returns in kind. The places in the neigh-
borhood of the capital were bound to supply workmen
and materials for building the king's palaces and
keeping them in repair. They were also to furnish
fuel, provisions, and whatever was necessary for his
ordinary domestic expenditure, which was certainly on
no stinted scale. 24 The principal cities, which had
— Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 8, cap. 14. — Clavigero, Stor.
del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 134-136.
22 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 38, and Relaciones, MS. —
The Tezcucan code, indeed, as digested under the great Nezahual-
coyotl, formed the basis of the Mexican, in the latter days of the
empire. Zurita, Rapport, p. 95.
=3 In this, at least, they did not resemble the Romans ; of whom their
countryman could boast, " Gloriari licet, nulli gentium mitiores pla-
cuisse pcenas." Livy, Hist., lib. 1, cap. 28.
2 4 The Tezcucan revenues were, in like manner, paid in the produce
of the country. The various branches of the royal expenditure were
defrayed by specified towns and districts ; and the whole arrangements
here, and in Mexico, bore a remarkable resemblance to the financial
regulations of the Persian empire, as reported by the Greek writers
(see Herodotus, Clio, sec. 192) ; with this difference, however, that the
towns of Persia proper were not burdened with tributes, like the con-
quered cities. Idem, Thalia, sec. 97.
LAWS AND REVENUES. 41
numerous villages and a large territory dependent on
them, were distributed into districts, with each a share
of the lands allotted to it, for its support. The inhab-
itants paid a stipulated part of the produce to the crown.
The vassals of the great chiefs, also, paid a portion of
their earnings into the public treasury ; an arrangement
not at all in the spirit of the feudal institutions. 2S
In addition to this tax on all the agricultural produce
of the kingdom, there was another on its manufactures.
The nature and the variety of the tributes will be best
shown by an enumeration of some of the principal
articles. These were cotton dresses, and mantles of
feather-work exquisitely made; ornamented armor;
vases and plates of gold ; gold dust, bands and brace-
lets ; crystal, gilt, and varnished jars and goblets ;
bells, arms, and utensils of copper ; reams of paper ;
grain, fruits, copal, amber, cochineal, cacao, wild
animals and birds, timber, lime, mats, etc. 26 In this
2 5 Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, p. 172. — Torquemada, Mo-
narch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 89; lib. 14, cap. 7. — Boturini, Idea, p. 166.—
Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib.
7, cap. 13. — The people of the provinces were distributed into calpulli,
or tribes, who held the lands of the neighborhood in common. Offi-
cers of their own appointment parcelled out these lands among the
several families of the calpulli ; and on the extinction or removal of a
family its lands reverted to the common stock, to be again distributed.
The individual proprietor had no power to alienate them. The laws
regulating these matters were very precise, and had existed ever since
the occupation of the country by the Aztecs. Zurita, Rapport, pp. 51-62.
26 The following items of the tribute furnished by different cities will
give a more precise idea of its nature : — 20 chests of ground chocolate ;
40 pieces of armor, of a particular device ; 2400 loads of large mantles,
of twisted cloth ; 800 loads of small mantles, of rich wearing-apparel ;
5 pieces of armor, of rich feathers ; 60 pieces of armor, of common
feathers ; a chest of beans ; a chest of c Man ; a chest of maize ; 8000
4*
42 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
curious medley of the most homely commodities and
the elegant superfluities of luxury, it is singular that no
mention should be made of silver, the great staple of
the country in later times, and the use of which was
certainly known to the Aztecs. 27
Garrisons were established in the larger cities, — ■
probably those at a distance and recently conquered, —
to keep down revolt, and to enforce the payment of the
tribute. 28 Tax-gatherers were also distributed through-
reams of paper ; likewise 2000 loaves of very white salt, refined in the
shape of a mould, for the consumption only of the lords of Mexico ;
8000 lumps of unrefined copal ; 400 small baskets of white refined
copal ; 100 copper axes ; 80 loads of red chocolate ; 800 xicaras, out
of which they drank chocolate ; a little vessel of small turquoise stones ;
4 chests of timber, full of maize ; 4000 loads of lime ; tiles of gold, of
the size of an oyster, and as thick as the finger ; 40 bags of cochineal ;
20 bags of gold dust, of the finest quality ; a diadem of gold, of a
specified pattern ; 20 lip-jewels of clear amber, ornamented with gold ;
200 loads of chocolate ; 100 pots or jars of liquid-amber ; 8000 hand-
fuls of rich scarlet feathers; 40 tiger-skins; 1600 bundles of cotton,
etc. etc-. Col. de Mendoza, part 2, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols, i., vi.
=7 Mapa de Tributos, ap. Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva-Espana. —
Tribute-roll, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i., and Interpretation, vol. vi.,
pp. 17-44. — The Mendoza Collection, in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford, contains a roll of the cities of the Mexican empire, with the
specific tributes exacted from them. It is a copy made after the Con-
quest, with a pen, on European paper. (See Foreign Quarterly Re-
view, No. XVII. Art. 4.) An original painting of the same roll was in
Boturini's museum. Lorenzana has given us engravings of it, in which
the outlines of the Oxford copy are filled up, though somewhat rudely.
Clavigero considers the explanations in Lorenzana's edition very in-
accurate (Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p» 25), a judgment confirmed by
Aglio, who has transcribed the entire collection of the Mendoza papers,
in the first volume of the Antiquities of Mexico. It would have much
facilitated reference to his plates if they had been numbered ; — a
strange omission !
= 8 The caciques, who submitted to the allied arms, were usually con-
LAWS AND REVENUES.
43
out the kingdom, who were recognized by their official
badges, and dreaded from the merciless rigor of their
exactions. By a stern law, every defaulter was liable
to be taken and sold as a slave. In the capital were
spacious granaries and warehouses for the reception of
the tributes. A receiver-general was quartered in the
palace, who rendered in an exact account of the various
contributions, and watched over the conduct of the in-
ferior agents, in whom the least malversation was sum-
marily punished. This functionary was furnished with
a map of the whole empire, with a minute specification
of the imposts assessed on every part of it. These
imposts, moderate under the reigns of the early princes,
became so burdensome under those at the close of
the dynasty, being rendered still more oppressive by
the manner of collection, that they bred disaffection
throughout the land, and prepared the way for its con-
quest by the Spaniards. 29
Communication was maintained with the remotest
parts of the country by means of couriers. Post-
houses were established on the great roads, about two
leagues distant from each other. The courier, bearing
his despatches in the form of a hieroglyphical painting,
ran with them to the first station, where they were
taken by another messenger and carried forward to the
firmed in their authority, and the conquered places allowed to retain
their laws and usages. (Zurita, Rapport, p. 67.) The conquests were
not always partitioned, but sometimes, singularly enough, were held in
common by the three powers. Ibid., p. II,
"9 Col. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 17. — Carta de
Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, p. no. — Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 6, 8. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib.
7, cap. 13. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 8, cap. 18, 19.
44 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
next, and so on till they reached the capital. These
couriers, trained from childhood, travelled with in-
credible swiftness, — not four or five leagues an hour,
as an old chronicler would make us believe, but with
such speed that despatches were carried from one to
two hundred miles a day. 30 Fresh fish was frequently
served at Montezuma's table in twenty-four hours from
the time it had been taken in the Gulf of Mexico, two
hundred miles from the capital. In this way intelli-
gence of the movements of the royal armies was rapidly
brought to court ; and the dress of the courier, denoting
by its color the nature of his tidings, spread joy or
consternation in the towns through which he passed. 31
30 The Hon. C. A. Murray, whose imperturbable good humor under
real troubles forms a contrast, rather striking, to the sensitiveness of
some of his predecessors to imaginary ones, tell us, among other mar-
vels, that an Indian of his party travelled a hundred miles in four-and-
twenty hours. (Travels in North America (New York, 1839), vol. i.
p. 193.) The Greek who, according to Plutarch, brought the news of
victory to Plataea, a hundred and twenty-five miles, in a day, was a
better traveller still. Some interesting facts on the pedestrian capa-
bilities of man in the savage state are collected by Buffon, who con-
cludes, truly enough, " L'homme civilise ne connait pas ses forces."
(Histoire naturelle : De la Jeunesse.)
3 1 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 1. — The same wants
led to the same expedients in ancient Rome, and still more ancient
Persia. " Nothing in the world is borne so swiftly," says Herodotus,
" as messages by the Persian couriers ;" which his commentator Valcke-
naer prudently qualifies by the exception of the carrier-pigeon.
(Herodotus, Hist., Urania, sec. 98, nee non Adnot. ed. Schweig-
hauser.) Couriers are noticed, in the thirteenth century, in China, by
Marco Polo. Their stations were only three miles apart, and they
accomplished five days' journey in one. (Viaggi di Marco Polo, lib.
2, cap. 20, ap. Ramusio, torn, ii.) A similar arrangement for posts
subsists there at the present day, and excites the admiration of a
modern traveller. (Anderson, British Embassy to China (London,
MILITAR Y INSTITUTIONS.
45
But the great aim of the Aztec institutions, to which
private discipline and public honors were alike directed,
was the profession of arms. In Mexico, as in Egypt,
the soldier shared with the priest the highest consider-
ation. The king, as we have seen, must be an expe-
rienced warrior. The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was
the god of war. A great object of their military ex-
peditions was to gather hecatombs of captives for his
altars. The soldier who fell in battle was transported
at once to the region of ineffable bliss in the bright
mansions of the Sun. 32 Every war, therefore, became
a crusade ; and the warrior, animated by a religious
enthusiasm like that of the early Saracen or the Christian
crusader, was not only raised to a contempt of danger,
but courted it, for the imperishable crown of martyrdom.
Thus we find the same impulse acting in the most oppo-
site quarters of the globe, and the Asiatic, the European,
and the American, each earnestly invoking the holy
name of religion in the perpetration of human butchery.
The question of war was discussed in a council of
the king and his chief nobles. Ambassadors were sent,
previously to its declaration, to require the hostile state
to receive the Mexican gods and to pay the customary
tribute. The persons of ambassadors were held sacred
throughout Anahuac. They were lodged and enter-
tained in the great towns at the public charge, and were
everywhere received with courtesy, so long as they did
not deviate from the high-roads on their route. When
they did, they forfeited their privileges. If the em-
1796), p. 282.) In all these cases, the posts were for the use of govern-
ment only.
3 Z Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 3, Apend., cap. 3.
46 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
bassy proved unsuccessful, a defiance, or open declara-
tion of war, was sent; quotas were drawn from the
conquered provinces, which were always subjected to
military service, as well as the payment of taxes ; and
the royal army, usually with the monarch at its head,
began its march. 33
The Aztec princes made use of the incentives em-
ployed by European monarchs to excite the ambition
of their followers. They established various military
orders, each having its privileges and peculiar insignia.
There seems, also, to have existed a sort of knighthood,
of inferior degree. It was the cheapest reward of
martial prowess, and whoever had not reached it was
excluded from using ornaments on his arms or his
person, and obliged to wear a coarse white stuff, made
from the threads of the aloe, called nequen. Even the
members of the royal family were not excepted from
this law, which reminds one of the occasional practice
of Christian knights, to wear plain armor, or shields
without device, till they had achieved some doughty
feat of chivalry. Although the military orders were
thrown open to all, it is probable that they were chiefly
filled with persons of rank, who, by their previous
training and connections, were able to come into the
field under peculiar advantages. 34
33 Zurita, Rapport, pp. 68, 120. — Col. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of
Mexico, vol. i. PL 67 ; vol. vi. p. 74. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind.,
lib. 14, cap. 1. — The reader will find a remarkable resemblance to
these military usages in those of the early Romans. Comp. Liv.,
Hist., lib. 1, cap. 32 ; lib. 4, cap. 30, et alibi.
34 Ibid., lib. 14, cap. 4, 5. — Acosta, lib. 6, ch. 26. — Col. of Mendoza,
ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. PL 65 ; vol. vi. p. 72. — Camargo, Hist,
de Tlascala, MS.
MILITARY INSTITUTIONS. 47
The dress of the higher warriors was picturesque and
often magnificent. Their bodies were covered with a
close vest of quilted cotton, so thick as to be impene-
trable to the light missiles of Indian warfare. This
garment was so light and serviceable that it was adopted
by the Spaniards. The wealthier chiefs sometimes
wore, instead of this cotton mail, a cuirass made of
thin plates of gold or silver. Over it was thrown a
surcoat of the gorgeous feather-work in which they
excelled. 33 Their helmets were sometimes of wood,
fashioned like the heads of wild animals, and some-
times of silver, on the top of which waved a panache
of variegated plumes, sprinkled with precious stones
and ornaments of gold. They wore also collars, brace-
lets, and ear-rings of the same rich materials. 36
Their armies were divided into bodies of eight thou-
sand men ; and these, again, into companies of three
or four hundred, each with its own commander. The
national standard, which has been compared to the
ancient Roman, displayed, in its embroidery of gold
35 " Their mail, if mail it may be called, was woven
Of vegetable down, like finest flax,
Bleached to the whiteness of new-fallen snow.
******
Others, of higher office, were arrayed
In feathery breastplates, of more gorgeous hue
Than the gay plumage of the mountain-cock,
Than the pheasant's glittering pride. But what were these,
Or what the thin gold hauberk, when opposed
To arms like ours in battle?"
Madoc, Part i, canto 7.
Beautiful painting ! One may doubt, however, the propriety of the
Welshman's vaunt, before the use of fire-arms.
36 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 2, cap. 27; lib. 8, cap. 12.
— Relatione d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. p. 305. —
Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.
48 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
and feather-work, the armorial ensigns of the state.
These were significant of its name, which, as the names
of both persons and places were borrowed from some
material object, was easily expressed by hieroglyphical
symbols. The companies and the great chiefs had also
their appropriate banners and devices, and the gaudy
hues of their many-colored plumes gave a dazzling
splendor to the spectacle.
Their tactics were such as belong to a nation with
whom war, though a trade, is not elevated to the rank
of a science. They advanced singing, and shouting
their war-cries, briskly charging the enemy, as rapidly
retreating, and making use of ambuscades, sudden
surprises, and the light skirmish of guerilla warfare.
Yet their discipline was such as to draw forth the
encomiums of the Spanish conquerors. "A beautiful
sight it was," says one of them, "to see them set out
on their march, all moving forward so gayly, and in so
admirable order!" 37 In battle they did not seek to
kill their enemies, so much as to take them prisoners ;
and they never scalped, like other North American
tribes. The valor of a warrior was estimated by the
number of his prisoners; and no ransom was large
enough to save the devoted captive. 38
37 Relatione d'un gentil' huomo, ubi supra.
38 Col. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. PI. 65, 66 ; vol. vi.
p. 73. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 8, cap. 12. — Toribio,
Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte I. cap. 7. — Torquemada, Monarch.
Ind., lib. 14, cap. 3. — Relatione d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio,
loc. cit. — Scalping may claim high authority, or, at least, antiquity.
The Father of History gives an account of it among the Scythians,
showing that they performed the operation, and wore the hideous
trophy, in the same manner as our North American Indians. (Hero-
dot., Hist., Melpomene, sec. 64.) Traces of the same savage custom
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
49
Their military code bore the same stern features as
their other laws. Disobedience of orders was pun-
ished with death. It was death, also, for a soldier to
leave his colors, to attack the enemy before the signal
was given, or to plunder another's booty or prisoners.
One of the last Tezcucan princes, in the spirit of an
ancient Roman, put two sons to death — after having
cured their wounds — for violating the last-mentioned
law. 39
I must not omit to notice here an institution the
introduction of which in the Old World is ranked
among the beneficent fruits of Christianity. Hospitals
were established in the principal cities, for the cure
of the sick and the permanent refuge of the disabled
soldier; and surgeons were placed over them, "who
were so far better than those in Europe," says an old
chronicler, "that they did not protract the cure in
order to increase the pay." 40
Such is the brief outline of the civil and military
polity of the ancient Mexicans ; less perfect than could
be desired in regard to the former, from the imper-
fection of the sources whence it is drawn. Whoever
has had occasion to explore the early history of modern
Europe has found how vague and unsatisfactory is the
political information which can be gleaned from the
gossip of monkish annalists. How much is the diffi-
culty increased in the present instance, where this
are also found in the laws of the Visigoths, among the Franks, and
even the Anglo-Saxons. See Guizot, Cours d'Histoire raoderne
(Paris, 1829), torn. i. p. 283.
39 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 67.
*> Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 12, cap. 6; lib. 14, cap. 3. —
Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36.
Vol. I.— c 5
5°
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
information, first recorded in the dubious language of
hieroglyphics, was interpreted in another language,
with which the Spanish chroniclers were imperfectly
acquainted, while it related to institutions of which
their past experience enabled them to form no ade-
quate conception ! Amidst such uncertain lights, it is
in vain to expect nice accuracy of detail. All that
can be done is to attempt an outline of the more
prominent features, that a correct impression, so far as
it goes, may be produced on the mind of the reader.
Enough has been said, however, to show that the
Aztec and Tezcucan races were advanced in civiliza-
tion very far beyond the wandering tribes of North
America. 41 The degree of civilization which they had
4* Zurita is indignant at the epithet of barbarians bestowed on the
Aztecs ; an epithet, he says, " which could come from no one who
had personal knowledge of the capacity of the people, or their insti-
tutions, and which in some respects is quite as well merited by the
European nations." (Rapport, p. 200, et seq.) This is strong lan-
guage. Yet no one had better means of knowing than this eminent
jurist, who for nineteen years held a post in the royal audiences of
New Spain. During his long residence in the country he had ample
opportunity of acquainting himself with its usages, both through his
own personal observation and intercourse with the natives, and through
the first missionaries who came over after the Conquest. On his
return to Spain, probably about 1560, he occupied himself with an
answer to queries which had been propounded by the government, on
the character of the Aztec laws and institutions, and on that of the
modifications introduced by the Spaniards. Much of his treatise is
taken up with the latter subject. In what relates to the former he
is more brief than could be wished, from the difficulty, perhaps, of
obtaining full and satisfactory information as to the details. As far as
he goes, however, he manifests a sound and discriminating judgment.
He is very rarely betrayed into the extravagance of expression so
visible in the writers of the time ; and this temperance, combined with
his uncommon sources of information, makes his work one of highest
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
51
reached, as inferred by their political institutions, may
be considered, perhaps, not much short of that enjoyed
by our Saxon ancestors under Alfred. In respect to
the nature of it, they may be better compared with the
Egyptians ; and the examination of their social rela-
tions and culture may suggest still stronger points of
resemblance to that ancient people.
Those familiar with the modern Mexicans will find
it difficult to conceive that the nation should ever have
been capable of devising the enlightened polity which
we have been considering. But they should remember
that in the Mexicans of our day they see only a con-
quered race ; as different from their ancestors as are
the modern Egyptians from those who built, — I will
not say, the tasteless pyramids, — but the temples and
palaces whose magnificent wrecks strew the borders of
the Nile, at Luxor and Karnac. The difference is not
so great as between the ancient Greek, and his degen-
erate descendant, lounging among the masterpieces of
art which he has scarcely taste enough to admire, —
speaking the language of those still more imperishable
monuments of literature which he has hardly capacity
to comprehend. Yet he breathes the same atmosphere,
is warmed by the same sun, nourished by the same
scenes, as those who fell at Marathon and won the
trophies of Olympic Pisa. The same blood flows in
his veins that flowed in theirs. But ages of tyranny
have passed over him ; he belongs to a conquered race.
authority on the limited topics within its range. The original manu-
script was consulted by Clavigero, and, indeed, has been used by other
writers. The work is now accessible to all, as one of the series of
translations from the pen of the indefatigable Ternaux.
52
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
The American Indian has something peculiarly sen-
sitive in his nature. He shrinks instinctively from the
rude touch of a foreign hand. Even when this foreign
influence comes in the form of civilization, he seems
to sink and pine away beneath it. It has been so with
the Mexicans. Under the Spanish domination, their
numbers have silently melted away. Their energies are
broken. They no longer tread their mountain plains
with the conscious independence of their ancestors.
In their faltering step and meek and melancholy aspect
we read the sad characters of the conquered race. The
cause of humanity, indeed, has gained. They live *
under a better system of laws, a more assured tran-
quillity, a purer faith. But all does not avail. Their
civilization was of the hardy character which belongs
to the wilderness. The fierce virtues of the Aztec
were all his own. They refused to submit to European
culture, — to be engrafted on a foreign stock. His
outward form, his complexion, his lineaments, are sub-
stantially the same ; but the moral characteristics of
the nation, all that constituted its individuality as a
race, are effaced forever.
Two of the principal authorities for this chapter are Torquemada
and Clavigero. The former, a Provincial of the Franciscan order,
came to the New World about the middle of the sixteenth century.
As the generation of the Conquerors had not then passed away, he
had ample opportunities of gathering the particulars of their enterprise
from their own lips. Fifty years, during which he continued in the
country, put him in possession of the traditions and usages of the
natives, and enabled him to collect their history from the earliest
missionaries, as well as from such monuments as the fanaticism of his
TORQUEMADA. 53
own countrymen had not then destroyed. From these ample sources
he compiled his bulky tomes, beginning, after the approved fashion of
the ancient Castilian chroniclers, with the creation of the world, and
embracing the whole circle of the Mexican institutions, political, reli-
gious, and social, from the earliest period to his own time. In handling
these fruitful themes, the worthy father has shown a full measure of
the bigotry which belonged to his order at that period. Every page,
too, is loaded with illustrations from Scripture or profane history, which
form a whimsical contrast to the barbaric staple of his story ; and he
has sometimes fallen into serious errors, from his misconception of the
chronological system of the Aztecs. But, notwithstanding these glaring
defects in the composition of the work, the student, aware of his
author's infirmities, will find few better guides than Torquemada in
tracing the stream of historic truth up to the fountain-head ; such is
his manifest integrity, and so great were his facilities for information
on the most curious points of Mexican antiquity. No work, accord-
ingly, has been more largely consulted and copied, even by some
who, like Herrera, have affected to set little value on the sources
whence its information was drawn. (Hist, general, dec. 6, lib. 6, cap.
19.) The Monarchia Indiana was first published at Seville, 1615
(Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova (Matriti, 1783), torn. ii. p. 787), and
since, in a better style, in three volumes folio, at Madrid, in 1723.
The other authority, frequently cited in the preceding pages, is the
Abbe Clavigero's Storia antlca del Messico. It was originally printed
towards the close of the last century, in the Italian language, and in
Italy, whither the author, a native of Vera Cruz, and a member of the
order of the Jesuits, had retired, on the expulsion of that body from Span-
ish America, in 1767. During a residence of thirty-five years in his own
country, Clavigero had made himself intimately acquainted with its
antiquities, by the careful examination of paintings, manuscripts, and
such other remains as were to be found in his day. The plan of his
work is nearly as comprehensive as that of his predecessor, Torque-
mada ; but the later and more cultivated period in which he wrote is
visible in the superior address with which he has managed his compli-
cated subject. In the elaborate disquisitions in his concluding volume,
he has done much to rectify the chronology and the various inac-
curacies of preceding writers. Indeed, an avowed object of his work
was to vindicate his countrymen from what he conceived to be the
misrepresentations of Robertson, Raynal, and De Pau. In regard to
the last two he was perfectly successful. Such an ostensible design
5*
54 TORQUEMADA.
might naturally suggest unfavorable ideas of his impartiality. But,
on the whole, he seems to have conducted the discussion with good
faith ; and, if he has been led by national zeal to overcharge the picture
with brilliant colors, he will be found much more temperate, in this
respect, than those who preceded him, while he has applied sound
principles of criticism, of which they were incapable. In a word, the
diligence of his researches has gathered into one focus the scattered
lights of tradition and antiquarian lore, purified in a great measure
from the mists of superstition which obscure the best productions of
an earlier period. From these causes, the work, notwithstanding its
occasional prolixity, and the disagreeable aspect given to it by the pro-
fusion of uncouth names in the Mexican orthography, which bristle
over every page, has found merited favor with the public, and created
something like a popular interest in the subject. Soon after its publi-
cation at Cesena, in 1780, it was translated into English, and more
lately into Spanish and German.
CHAPTER III.
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. — THE SACERDOTAL ORDER. — THE
TEMPLES. HUMAN SACRIFICES.
The civil polity of the Aztecs is so closely blended
with their religion that without understanding the
latter it is impossible to form correct ideas of their
government or their social institutions. I shall pass
over, for the present, some remarkable traditions,
bearing a singular resemblance to those found in the
Scriptures, and endeavor to give a brief sketch of their
mythology and their careful provisions for maintaining
a national worship.
Mythology may be regarded as the poetry of religion,
or rather as the poetic development of the religious
principle in a primitive age. It is the effort of un-
tutored man to explain the mysteries of existence, and
the secret agencies by which the operations of nature
are conducted. Although the growth of similar con-
ditions of society, its character must vary with that
of the rude tribes in which it originates; and the
ferocious Goth, quaffing mead from the skulls of
his slaughtered enemies, must have a very different
mythology from that of the effeminate native of His-
paniola, loitering away his hours in idle pastimes,
under the shadow of his bananas.
At a later and more refined period, we sometimes
(55)
56 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
find these primitive legends combined into a regular
system under the hands of the poet, and the rude out-
line moulded into forms of ideal beauty, which are
the objects of adoration in a credulous age, and the
delight of all succeeding ones. Such were the beauti-
ful inventions of Hesiod and Homer, "who," says
the Father of History, "created the theogony of the
Greeks;" an assertion not to be taken too literally,
since it is hardly possible that any man should create a
religious system for his nation. 1 They only filled up
the shadowy outlines of tradition with the bright
touches of their own imaginations, until they had
clothed them in beauty which kindled the imaginations
of others. The power of the poet, indeed, may be
felt in a similar way in a much riper period of society.
To say nothing of the " Divina Commedia," who is
there that rises from the perusal of "Paradise Lost"
without feeling his own conceptions of the angelic
hierarchy quickened by those of the inspired artist,
and a new and sensible form, as it were, given to
images which had before floated dim and undefined
before him ?
The last-mentioned period is succeeded by that of
philosophy; which, disclaiming alike the legends of
the primitive age and the poetical embellishments of
the succeeding one, seeks to shelter itself from the
charge of impiety by giving an allegorical interpreta-
1 -KOLfjaavTeQ ■&eoyovirjv "EXhjai. Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 53. —
Heeren hazards a remark equally strong, respecting the epic poets of
India, "who," says he, "have supplied the numerous gods that fill
her Pantheon." Historical Researches, Eng. trans. (Oxford, 1833),
voL iii. p. 139.
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY.
57
tion to the popular mythology, and thus to reconcile
the latter with the genuine deductions of science.
The Mexican religion had emerged from the first of
the periods we have been considering, and, although
little affected by poetical influences, had received a
peculiar complexion from the priests, who had digested
as thorough and burdensome a ceremonial as ever ex-
isted in any nation. They had, moreover, thrown the
veil of allegory over early tradition, and invested their
deities with attributes savoring much more of the gro-
tesque conceptions of the Eastern nations in the Old
World, than of the lighter fictions of Greek mythology,
in which the features of humanity, however exaggerated,
were never wholly abandoned. 2
In contemplating the religious system of the Aztecs,
one is struck with its apparent incongruity, as if some
portion of it had emanated from a comparatively refined
people, open to gentle influences, while the rest breathes
a spirit of unmitigated ferocity. It naturally suggests
the idea of two distinct sources, and authorizes the
belief that the Aztecs had inherited from their prede-
cessors a milder faith, on which was afterwards engrafted
their own mythology. The latter soon became domi-
nant, and gave its dark coloring to the creeds of the
conquered nations, — which the Mexicans, like the
ancient Romans, seem willingly to have incorporated
a The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone has fallen into a similar train
of thought, in a comparison of the Hindoo and Greek Mythology, in
his " History of India," published since the remarks in the text were
written. (See Book I. ch. 4.) The same chapter of this truly philo-
sophic work suggests some curious points of resemblance to the Aztec
religious institutions, that may furnish pertinent illustrations to the
mind bent on tracing the affinities of the Asiatic and American races.
C*
5 8 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
into their own, — until the same funereal superstition
settled over the farthest borders of Anahuac.
The Aztecs recognized the existence of a supreme
Creator and Lord of the universe. They addressed
him, in their prayers, as " the God by whom we live,"
"omnipresent, that knoweth all thoughts, and giveth
all gifts," "without whom man is as nothing," "in-
visible, incorporeal, one God, of perfect perfection and
purity," "under whose wings we find repose and a
sure defence." These sublime attributes infer no in-
adequate conception of the true God. But the idea of
unity — of a being with whom volition is action, who
has no need of inferior ministers to execute his pur-
poses — was too simple, or too vast, for their under-
standings ; and they sought relief, as usual, in a plurality
of deities, who presided over the elements, the changes
of the seasons, and the various occupations of man. 3
Of these, there were thirteen principal deities, and
more than two hundred inferior ; to each of whom
some special day or appropriate festival was conse-
crated. 4
3 Ritter has well shown, by the example of the Hindoo system, how
the idea of unity suggests, of itself, that of plurality. History of
Ancient Philosophy, Eng. trans. (Oxford, 1838), book 2, ch. 1.
4 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 6, passim. — Acosta, lib. 5,
ch. 9. — Boturini, Idea, p. 8, et seq. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 1. — Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — The Mexicans, according
to Clavigero, believed in an evil Spirit, the enemy of the human race,
whose barbarous name signified " Rational Owl." (Stor. del Messico,
torn. ii. p. 2.) The curate Bernaldez speaks of the Devil being em-
broidered on the dresses of Columbus's Indians, in the likeness of an
owl. (Historia de los Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 131.) This must
not be confounded, however, with the evil Spirit in the mythology of
the North American Indians (see Heckewelder's Account, ap. Trans-
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY.
59
At the head of all stood the terrible Huitzilopochtli,
the Mexican Mars ; although it is doing injustice to
the heroic war-god of antiquity to identify him with
this sanguinary monster. This was the patron deity
of the nation. His fantastic image was loaded with
costly ornaments. His temples were the most stately
and august of the public edifices ; and his altars reeked
with the blood of human hecatombs in every city of
the empire. Disastrous indeed must have been the
influence of such a superstition on the character of the
people. 3
actions of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, vol. i. p.
205), still less with the evil Principle of the Oriental nations of the Old
World. It was only one among many deities, for evil was found too
liberally mingled in the natures of most of the Aztec gods — in the
same manner as with the Greeks — to admit of its personification by
any one.
S Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 3, cap. 1, et seq. — Acosta,
lib. 5, ch. 9. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 6, cap. 21. — Boturini,
Idea, pp. 27, 28. — Huitzilopochtli is compounded of two words, signi-
fying " humming-bird," and " left," from his image having the feathers
of this bird on its left foot (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p.
17) ; an amiable etymology for so ruffian a deity* — The fantastic
* [The name may possibly have referred to the whispered oracles
and intimations in dreams — such as " a little bird of the air" is still
fabled to convey — by which, according to the legend, the deity had
guided his people in their migrations and conquests. That it had a
symbolical meaning will hardly be doubted, and M. Brasseur de Bour-
bourg, who had originally explained it as " Huitzil the Left-handed,"
— the proper name of a deified hero with the addition of a descriptive
epithet, — has since found one of too deep an import to be briefly ex-
pounded or easily understood. (Quatre Lettres sur le Mexique (Paris,
1868), p. 201, et al.) Mexitl, another name of the same deity, is
translated " the hare of the aloes." In some accounts the two are
distinct personages. Mythological science rejects the legend, and re-
60 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
A far more interesting personage in their mythology
was Quetzalcoatl, god of the air, a divinity who, during
forms of the Mexican idols were in the highest degree symbolical.
See Gama's learned exposition of the devices on the statue of the
goddess found in the great square of Mexico. (Descripcion de las
Dos Piedras (Mexico, 1832), Parte 1, pp. 34-44.) The tradition re-
specting the origin of this god, or, at least, his appearance on earth, is
curious. He was born of a woman. His mother, a devout person,
one day, in her attendance on the temple, saw a ball of bright-colored
feathers floating in the air. She took it, and deposited it in her bosom.
She soon after found herself pregnant, and the dread deity was born,
coming into the world, like Minerva, all armed, — with a spear in the
right hand, a shield in the left, and his head surmounted by a crest of
green plumes. (See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p. 19, et
seq.) A similar notion in respect to the incarnation of their principal
deity existed among the people of India beyond the Ganges, of China,
and of Thibet. " Budh," says Milman, in his learned and luminous
work on the History of Christianity, " according to a tradition known
in the West, was born of a virgin. So were the Fohi of China, and
the Schakaof of Thibet, no doubt the same, whether a mythic or a
real personage. The Jesuits in China, says Barrow, were appalled at
finding in the mythology of that country the counterpart of the Virgo
Deipara." (Vol. i. p. 99, note.) The existence of similar religious
ideas in remote regions, inhabited by different races, is an interesting
subject of study ; furnishing, as it does, one of the most important
links in the great chain of communication which binds together the
distant families of nations.
gards the Aztec war-god as a " nature-deity," a personification of the
lightning, this being a natural type of warlike might, of which the com-
mon symbol, the serpent, was represented among the decorations of the
idol. (Myths of the New World, p. 118.) More commonly he has been
identified with the sun, and Mr. Tylor, while declining " to attempt a
general solution of this inextricable compound parthenogenetic deity,"
notices the association of his principal festival with the winter's solstice,
and the fact that his paste idol was then shot through with an arrow,
as tending to show that the life and death of the deity were emblem-
atic of the year's, " while his functions of war-god may have been of
later addition." Primitive Culture, torn. ii. p. 279. — ED.]
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. 61
his residence on earth, instructed the natives in the use
of metals, in agriculture, and in the arts of govern-
ment. He was one of those benefactors of their spe-
cies, doubtless, who have been deified by the gratitude
of posterity. Under him, the earth teemed with fruits
and flowers, without the pains of culture. An ear of
Indian corn was as much as a single man could carry.
The cotton, as it grew, took, of its own accord, the
rich dyes of human art. The air was filled with intox-
icating perfumes and the sweet melody of birds. In
short, these were the halcyon days, which find a place
in the mythic systems of so many nations in the Old
World. It was the golden age of Anahuac.
From some cause, not explained, Quetzalcoatl in-
curred the wrath of one of the principal gods, and was
compelled to abandon the country. On his way he
stopped at the city of Cholula, where a temple was
dedicated to his worship, the massy ruins of which
still form one of the most interesting relics of antiquity
in Mexico. When he reached the shores of the Mexican
Gulf, he took leave of his followers, promising that he
and his descendants would revisit them hereafter, and
then, entering his wizard skiff, made of serpents' skins,
embarked on the great ocean for the fabled land of
Tlapallan. He was said to have been tall in stature,
with a white skin, long, dark hair, and a flowing beard.
The Mexicans looked confidently to the return of the
benevolent deity ; and this remarkable tradition, deeply
cherished in their hearts, prepared the way, as we shall
see hereafter, for the future success of the Spaniards. 6
*> Codex Vaticanus, PI. 15, and Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Part. 2,
PI. 2, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols. L, vi. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-
Vol. I.— 6
62 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
We have not space for further details respecting the
Mexican divinities, the attributes of many of whom
Espaiia, lib. 3, cap. 3, 4, 13, 14. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 6,
cap. 24. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 1. — Gomara, Cr6nica
de la Nueva-Espana, cap. 222, ap. Barcia, Historiadores primitivos de
las Indias Occidentales (Madrid, 1749), torn. ii. — Quetzalcoatl signi-
fies " feathered serpent." The last syllable means, likewise, a " twin ;"
which furnished an argument for Dr. Siguenza to identify this god
with the apostle Thomas (Didymus signifying also a twin), who, he
supposes, came over to America to preach the gospel. In this rather
startling conjecture he is supported by several of his devout country-
men, who appear to have as little doubt of the fact as of the advent
of St. James, for a similar purpose, in the mother-country. See the
various authorities and arguments set forth with becoming gravity in
Dr. Mier's dissertation in Bustamante's edition of Sahagun (lib. 3,
Suplem.), and Veytia (torn. i. pp. 160-200). Our ingenious country-
man McCulloh carries the Aztec god up to a still more respectable
antiquity, by identifying him with the patriarch Noah. Researches,
Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the Aboriginal History of
America (Baltimore, 1829), p. 233.*
* [Under the modern system of mythical interpretation, which has
been applied by Dr. Brinton with singular force and ingenuity to
the traditions of the New World, Quetzalcoatl, " the central figure
of Toltec mythology," with the corresponding figures found in the
legends of the Mayas, Quiches, Peruvians, and other races, loses all
personal existence, and becomes a creation of that primitive religious
sentiment which clothed the uncomprehended powers of nature with
the attributes of divinity. His name, " Bird-Serpent," unites the
emblems of the wind and the lightning. " He is both lord of the
eastern light and the winds. As the former, he was born of a virgin
in the land of Tula or Tlapallan, in the distant Orient, and was high-
priest of that happy realm. The morning star was his symbol. . . .
Like all the dawn heroes, he too was represented as of white com-
plexion, clothed in long white robes, and, as most of the Aztec gods,
with a full and flowing beard. When his earthly work was done, he
too returned to the east, assigning as a reason that the sun, the ruler
of Tlapalian, demanded his presence. But the real motive was that
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. 63
were carefully defined, as they descended, in regular
gradation, to the penates or household gods, whose
little images were to be found in the humblest dwelling.
he had been overcome by Tezcatlipoca, otherwise called Yoalliehecatl,
the wind or spirit of the night, who had descended from heaven by a
spider's web and presented his rival with a draught pretended to
confer immortality, but, in fact, producing uncontrollable longing for
home. For the wind and the light both depart when the gloaming
draws near, or when the clouds spread their dark and shadowy webs
along the mountains and pour the vivifying rain upon the fields. . . .
Wherever he went, all manner of singing birds bore him company,
emblems of the whistling breezes. When he finally disappeared in the
far east, he sent back four trusty youths, who had ever shared his
fortunes, incomparably swift and light of foot, with directions to divide
the earth between them and rule it till he should return and resume
his power." (The Myths of the New World, p. 180, et seq.) So far
as mere physical attributes are concerned, this analysis may be accepted
as a satisfactory elucidation of the class of figures to which it relates.
But the grand and distinguishing characteristic of these figures is the
moral and intellectual eminence ascribed to them. They are invested
with the highest qualities of humanity, — attributes neither drawn from
the external phenomena of nature nor born of any rude sentiment of
wonder and fear. Their lives and doctrines are in strong contrast with
those of the ordinary divinities of the same or other lands, and they
are objects not of a propitiatory worship, but of a pious veneration.
Can we, then, assent to the conclusion that under this aspect also they
were " wholly mythical," " creations of the religious fancy," " ideals
summing up in themselves the best traits, the most approved virtues,
of whole nations"? (Ibid., pp. 293, 294.) This would seem to imply
that nations may attain to lofty conceptions of moral truth and excel-
lence by a process of selection, without any standard or point of view
furnished by living embodiments of the ideal. But this would be as
impossible as to arrive at conceptions of the highest forms and ideas
of art independently of the special genius and actual productions of
the artist. In the one case, as in the other, the ideal is derived originally
from examples shaped by finer and deeper intuitions than those of
the masses. " Im Anfang war die That." The mere fact, therefore,
that the Mexican people recognized an exalted ideal of purity and
wisdom is a sufficient proof that men had existed among them who
64 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
The Aztecs felt the curiosity, common to man in
almost every stage of civilization, to lift the veil which
covers the mysterious past and the more awful future.
They sought relief, like the nations of the Old Conti-
nent, from the oppressive idea of eternity, by breaking
it up into distinct cycles, or periods of time, each of
several thousand years' duration. There were four of
these cycles, and at the end of each, by the agency of
one of the elements, the human family was swept from
the earth, and the sun blotted out from the heavens, to
be again rekindled. 7
7 Cod. Vat., PI. 7-10, Antiq. of Mexico, vols, i., vi. — Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 1. — M. de Humboldt has been at some pains
to trace the analogy between the Aztec cosmogony and that of Eastern
Asia. He has tried, though in vain, to find a multiple which might
serve as the key to the calculations of the former. (Vues des Cordil-
leres, pp. 202-212.) In truth, there seems to be a material discordance
in the Mexican statements, both in regard to the number of revolu-
tions and their duration. A manuscript before me, of Ixtlilxochitl,
reduces them to three, before the present state of the world, and
allows only 4394 years for them (Sumaria Relacion, MS., No. 1);
Gama, on the faith of an ancient Indian MS. in Boturini's Catalogue
(viii. 13), reduces the duration still lower (Descripcion de las Dos
Piedras, Parte 1, p. 49, et seq.) ; while the cycles of the Vatican paint-
ings take up near 18,000 years. — It is interesting to observe how the
wild conjectures of an ignorant age have been confirmed by the more
recent discoveries in geology, making it probable that the earth has
displayed these qualities in an eminent degree. The status of their
civilization, imperfect as it was, can be accounted for only in the same
way. Comparative mythology may resolve into its original elements
a personification of the forces of nature woven by the religious fancy
of primitive races, but it cannot sever that chain of discoverers and
civilizers by which mankind has been drawn from the abysses of savage
ignorance, and by which its progress, when uninterrupted, has been
always maintained. — Ed.]
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY.
65
They imagined three separate states of existence in
the future life. The wicked, comprehending the greater
part of mankind, were to expiate their sins in a place
of everlasting darkness. Another class, with no other
merit than that of having died of certain diseases,
capriciously selected, were to enjoy a negative exist-
ence of indolent contentment. The highest place was
reserved, as in most warlike nations, for the heroes
who fell in battle, or in sacrifice. They passed at
once into the presence of the Sun, whom they accom-
panied with songs and choral dances in his bright
progress through the heavens ; and, after some years,
their spirits went to animate the clouds and singing-
birds of beautiful plumage, and to revel amidst the
rich blossoms and odors of the gardens of paradise. 8
Such was the heaven of the Aztecs ; more refined in
its character than that of the more polished pagan,
whose elysium reflected only the martial sports or sen-
sual gratifications of this life. 9 In the destiny they
experienced a number of convulsions, possibly thousands of years
distant from each other, which have swept away the races then existing,
and given a new aspect to the globe.
8 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 3, Apend. — Cod. Vat., ap.
Antiq. of Mexico, PI. 1-5. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap.
48. — The last writer assures us " that, as to what the Aztecs said of
their going to hell, they were right ; for, as they died in ignorance of
the true faith, they have, without question, all gone there to suffer
everlasting punishment " ! Ubi supra.
9 It conveys but a poor idea of these pleasures, that the shade of
Achilles can say " he had rather be the slave of the meanest man on
earth, than sovereign among the dead." (Odyss., A. 488-490.) The
Mahometans believe that the souls of martyrs pass, after death, into
the bodies of birds, that haunt the sweet waters and bowers of Para-
dise. (Sale's Koran (London, 1825), vol. i. p. 106.) — The Mexican
6*
66 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
assigned to the wicked, we discern similar traces of
refinement; since the absence of all physical torture
forms a striking contrast to the schemes of suffering
so ingeniously devised by the fancies of the most en-
lightened nations. 10 In all this, so contrary to the
natural suggestions of the ferocious Aztec, we see the
evidences of a higher civilization,* inherited from their
predecessors in the land.
Our limits will allow only a brief allusion to one
or two of their most interesting ceremonies. On the
death of a person, his corpse was dressed in the pecu-
liar habiliments of his tutelar deity. It was strewed
with pieces of paper, which operated as charms against
the dangers of the dark road he was to travel. A
throng of slaves, if he were rich, was sacrificed at his
obsequies. His body was burned, and the ashes, col-
lected in a vase, were preserved in one of the apart -
heaven may remind one of Dante's, in its material enjoyments; which,
in both, are made up of light, music, and motion. The sun, it must
also be remembered, was a spiritual conception with the Aztec :
" He sees with other eyes than theirs ; where they
Behold a sun, he spies a deity."
10 It is singular that the Tuscan bard, while exhausting his invention
in devising modes of bodily torture, in his " Inferno," should have
made so little use of the moral sources of misery. That he has not
done so might be reckoned a strong proof of the rudeness of the time,
did we not meet with examples of it in a later day ; in which a serious
and sublime writer, like Dr. Watts, does not disdain to employ the
same coarse machinery for moving the conscience of the reader.
* [It should perhaps be regarded rather as evidence of a low civili-
zation, since the absence of any strict ideas of retribution is a charac-
teristic of the notions in regard to a future life entertained by savage
races. See Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii. p. 76, et seq. — Ed.]
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY. 67
ments of his house. Here we have successively the
usages of the Roman Catholic, the Mussulman, the
Tartar, and the ancient Greek and Roman ; curious
coincidences, which may show how cautious we should
be in adopting conclusions founded on analogy."
A more extraordinary coincidence may be traced
with Christian rites, in the ceremony of naming their
children. The lips and bosom of the infant were
sprinkled with water, and "the Lord was implored to
permit the holy drops to wash away the sin that was
given to it before the foundation of the world ; so that
the child might be born anew. ' ' " We are reminded
of Christian morals, in more than one of their prayers,
in which they used regular forms. " Wilt thou blot us
out, O Lord, forever? Is this punishment intended,
not for our reformation, but for our destruction?"
Again, " Impart to us, out of thy great mercy, thy
11 Carta del Lie. Zuazo (Nov. 1521), MS. — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 8. —
Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 45. — Sahagun, Hist, de
Nueva-Espana, lib. 3, Apend. — Sometimes the body was buried entire,
with valuable treasures, if the deceased was rich. The " Anonymous
Conqueror," as he is called, saw gold to the value of 3000 castellanos
drawn from one of these tombs. Relatione d'un gentil' huomo, ap.
Ramusio, torn. iii. p. 310.
12 This interesting rite, usually solemnized with great formality, in the
presence of the assembled friends and relatives, is detailed with minute-
ness by Sahagun (Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 6, cap. 37), and by
Zuazo (Carta, MS.), both of them eye-witnesses. For a version of
part of Sahagun's account, see Appendix, Part 1, note 26.*
* [A similar rite of baptism, founded on the natural symbolism of
the purifying power of water, was practised by other races in Ameiica,
and had existed in the East, as the reader need hardly be told, long
anterior to Christianity. — Ed.]
68 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
gifts, which we are not worthy to receive through our
own merits." "Keep peace with all," says another
petition; "bear injuries with humility; God, who
sees, will avenge you. ' ' But the most striking parallel
with Scripture is in the remarkable declaration that
"he who looks too curiously on a woman commits
adultery with his eyes. ' ' ,3 These pure and elevated
maxims, it is true, are mixed up with others of a
puerile, and even brutal, character, arguing that con-
fusion of the moral perceptions which is natural in the
twilight of civilization. One would not expect, how-
ever, to meet, in such a state of society, with doctrines
as sublime as any inculcated by the enlightened codes
of ancient philosophy. 14
•3 " i Es posible que este azote y este castigo no se nos da para
rmestra correction y enmienda, sino para total destruction y aso-
lamiento?" (Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 6, cap. i.) "Y
esto por sola vuestra liberalidad y magnificencia lc habeis de hacer,
que ninguno es digno ni merecedor de recibir vuestra larguezas por
su dignidad y merecimiento, sino que por vuestra benignidad." (Ibid.,
lib. 6, cap. 2.) "Sed sufridos y reportados, que Dios bien os ve y
responded por vosotros, y el os vengara (d.) sed humildes con todos,
y con esto os hard Dios merced y tambien honra." (Ibid., lib. 6, cap.
17.) " Tampoco mires con curiosidad el gesto y disposition de la
gente principal, mayormente de las mugeres, y sobre todo de las
casadas, porque dice el refran que dl que curiosamente mira a la mugei
adultera con la vista." (Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 22.)
14 [On reviewing the remarkable coincidences shown in the above
pages with the sentiments and even the phraseology of Scripture, we
cannot but admit there is plausible ground for Mr. Gallatin's con-
jecture that the Mexicans, after the Conquest, attributed to their remote
ancestors ideas which more properly belonged to a generation coeval
with the Conquest, and brought into contact with the Europeans.
"The substance," he remarks, "may be true; but several of the
prayers convey elevated and correct notions of a Supreme Being,
which appear to me altogether inconsistent with that which we know
SACERDOTAL ORDER. 69
But, although the Aztec mythology gathered nothing
from the beautiful inventions of the poet or from the
refinements of philosophy, it was much indebted, as I
have noticed, to the priests, who endeavored to dazzle
the imagination of the people by the most formal and
pompous ceremonial. The influence of the priesthood
must be greatest in an imperfect state of civilization,
where it engrosses all the scanty science of the time in
its own body. This is particularly the case when the
science is of that spurious kind which is less occupied
with the real phenomena of nature than with the fan-
ciful chimeras of human superstition. Such are the
sciences of astrology and divination, in which the
Aztec priests were well initiated; and, while they
seemed to hold the keys of the future in their own
hands, they impressed the ignorant people with sen-
timents of superstitious awe, beyond that which has
probably existed in any other country, — even in ancient
Egypt.
The sacerdotal order was very numerous ; as may be
to have been their practical religion and worship."* Transactions
of the American Ethnological Society, i. 210.]
* [It is evident that an inconsistency such as belongs to all religions,
and to human nature in general, affords no sufficient ground for
doubting the authenticity of the prayers reported by Sahagun. Similar
specimens of prayers used by the Peruvians have been preserved, and,
like those of the Aztecs, exhibit, in their recognition of spiritual as
distinct from material blessings, a contrast to the forms of petition
employed by the wholly uncivilized races of the north. They are in
harmony with the purer conceptions of morality which those nations
are admitted to have possessed, and which formed the real basis of
their civilization. — Ed.]
7o
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
inferred from the statement that five thousand priests
were, in some way or other, attached to the principal
temple in the capital. The various ranks and functions
of this multitudinous body were discriminated with
great exactness. Those best instructed in music took
the management of the choirs. Others arranged the
festivals conformably to the calendar. Some superin-
tended the education of youth, and others had charge
of the hieroglyphical paintings and oral traditions;
while the dismal rites of sacrifice were reserved for the
chief dignitaries of the order. At the head of the
whole establishment were two high-priests, elected from
the order, as it would seem, by the king and principal
nobles, without reference to birth, but solely for their
qualifications, as shown by their previous conduct in a
subordinate station. They were equal in dignity, and
inferior only to the sovereign, who rarely acted without
their advice in weighty matters of public concern. 13
The priests were each devoted to the service of some
particular deity, and had quarters provided within the
spacious precincts of their temple ; at least, while en-
gaged in immediate attendance there, — for they were
'5 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 2, Apend. ; lib. 3, cap. 9. —
Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 20; lib. 9, cap. 3, 56. —
Gomara, Cron., cap. 215, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. — Toribio, Hist, de los
Indios, MS., Parte i, cap. 4. — Clavigero says that the high-priest was
necessarily a person of rank. (Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p. 37.) I
find no authority for this, not even in his oracle, Torquemada, who
expressly says, " There is no warrant for the assertion, however proba-
ble the fact may be." (Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. 5.) It is contra-
dicted by Sahagun, whom I have followed as the highest authority in
these matters. Clavigero had no other knowledge of Sahagun's work
than what was filtered through the writings of Torquemada and later
authors.
SACERDOTAL ORDER.
71
allowed to marry, and have families of their own.
In this monastic residence they lived in all the stern
severity of conventual discipline. Thrice during the
day, and once at night, they were called to prayers.
They were frequent in their ablutions and vigils, and
mortified the flesh by fasting and cruel penance, —
drawing blood from their bodies by flagellation, or by
piercing them with the thorns of the aloe ; in short,
by practising all those austerities to which fanaticism
(to borrow the strong language of the poet) has
resorted, in every age of the world,
" In hopes to merit heaven by making earth a hell." l6
The great cities were divided into districts, placed
under the charge of a sort of parochial clergy, who
regulated every act of religion within their precincts.
It is remarkable that they administered the rites of
confession and absolution. The secrets of the con-
fessional were held inviolable, and penances were
imposed of much the same kind as those enjoined in
the Roman Catholic Church. There were two re-
markable peculiarities in the Aztec ceremony. The
first was, that, as the repetition of an offence once
atoned for was deemed inexpiable, confession was made
but once in a man's life, and was usually deferred to
a late period of it, when the penitent unburdened his
conscience and settled at once the long arrears of
iniquity. Another peculiarity was, that priestly abso-
lution was received in place of the legal punishment
of offences, and authorized an acquittal in case of
16 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, ubi supra. — Torquemada.
Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. 25. — Gomara, Cron., ap. Barcia, ubi
supra. — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 14, 17.
72
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
arrest. Long after the Conquest, the simple natives,
when they came under the arm of the law, sought to
escape by producing the certificate of their confession. 17
One of the most important duties of the priesthood
was that of education, to which certain buildings were
appropriated within the enclosure of the principal tem-
ple. Here the youth of both sexes, of the higher and
middling orders, were placed at a very tender age.
The girls were intrusted to the care of priestesses ; for
women were allowed to exercise sacerdotal functions,
except those of sacrifice. 18 In these institutions the
x 7 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. i, cap. 12; lib. 6, cap. 7.
— The address of the confessor, on these occasions, contains some
things too remarkable to be omitted. " O merciful Lord," he says, in
his prayer, " thou who knowest the secrets of all hearts, let thy forgive-
ness and favor descend, like the pure waters of heaven, to wash away
the stains from the soul. Thou knowest that this poor man has sinned,
not from his own free will, but from the influence of the sign under
which he was born." After a copious exhortation to the penitent,
enjoining a variety of mortifications and minute ceremonies by way
of penance, and particularly urging the necessity of instantly pro-
curing a slave for sacrifice to the Deity, the priest concludes with
inculcating charity to the poor. " Clothe the naked and feed the
hungry, whatever privations it may cost thee ; for remember, their
flesh is like thine, and they are men like thee." Such is the strange
medley of truly Christian benevolence and heathenish abominations
which pervades the Aztec litany, — intimating sources widely different.
* 8 The Egyptian gods were also served by priestesses. (See Herod-
otus, Euterpe, sec. 54.) Tales of scandal similar to those which the
Greeks circulated respecting them, have been told of the Aztec vir-
gins. (See Le Noir's dissertation, ap. Antiquites Mexicaines (Paris,
1834), torn. ii. p. 7, note.) The early missionaries, credulous enough
certainly, give no countenance to such reports ; and Father Acosta,
on the contrary, exclaims, " In truth, it is very strange to see that this
false opinion of religion hath so great force among these yoong men
and maidens of Mexico, that they will serve the Divell with so great
rigor and austerity, which many of us doe not in the service of the
SACERDOTAL ORDER.
73
boys were drilled in the routine of monastic discipline j
they decorated the shrines of the gods with flowers,
fed the sacred fires, and took part in the religious
chants and festivals. Those in the higher school — the
Calmecac, as it was called — were initiated in their
traditionary lore, the mysteries of hieroglyphics, the
principles of government, and such branches of astro-
nomical and natural science as were within the com-
pass of the priesthood. The girls learned various
feminine employments, especially to weave and em-
broider rich coverings for the altars of the gods.
Great attention was paid to the moral discipline of
both sexes. The most perfect decorum prevailed ;
and offences were punished with extreme rigor, in
some instances with death itself. Terror, not love,
was the spring of education with the Aztecs. 19
At a suitable age for marrying, or for entering into
the world, the pupils were dismissed, with much cere-
mony, from the convent, and the recommendation of
the principal often introduced those most competent
to responsible situations in public life. Such was the
crafty policy of the Mexican priests, who, by reserving
to themselves the business of instruction, were enabled
most high God; the which is a great shame and confusion." Eng.
trans., lib. 5, cap. 16.
x 9 Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 9. — Sahagun, Hist,
de Nueva-Espana, lib. 2, Apend. ; lib. 3, cap. 4-8. — Zurita, Rapport,
pp. 123-126. — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 15, 16. — Torquemada, Monarch.
Ind., lib. 9, cap. 11-14, 30, 31. — "They were taught," says the good
father last cited, " to eschew vice, and cleave to virtue, — according to
their notions of them ; namely, to abstain from wrath, to offer violence
and do wrong to no man, — in short, to perform the duties plainly
pointed out by natural religion."
Vol. I.— d 7
74 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
to mould the young and plastic mind according to
their own wills, and to train it early to implicit rev-
erence for religion and its ministers; a reverence
which still maintained its hold on the iron nature of
the warrior, long after every other vestige of education
had been effaced by the rough trade to which he was
devoted.
To each of the principal temples, lands were annexed
for the maintenance of the priests. These estates were
augmented by the policy or devotion of successive
princes, until, under the last Montezuma, they had
swollen to an enormous extent, and covered every dis-
trict of the empire. The priests took the management
of their property into their own hands ; and they seem
to have treated their tenants with the liberality and
indulgence characteristic of monastic corporations.
Besides the large supplies drawn from this source, the
religious order was enriched with the first-fruits, and
such other offerings as piety or superstition dictated.
The surplus beyond what was required for the support
of the national worship was distributed in alms among
the poor ; a duty strenuously prescribed by their moral
code. Thus we find the same religion inculcating
lessons of pure philanthropy, on the one hand, and of
merciless extermination, as we shall soon see, on the
other. The inconsistency will not appear incredible
to those who are familiar with the history of the Roman
Catholic Church, in the early ages of the Inquisition. 20
30 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 20, 21. — Camargo, Hist,
de Tlascala, MS. — It is impossible not to be struck with the great
resemblance, not merely in a few empty forms, but in the whole way
of life, of the Mexican and Egyptian priesthood. Compare Herod-
TEMPLES.
75
The Mexican temples — teocallis, "houses of God,"
as they were called* — were very numerous. There were
several hundreds in each of the principal cities, many
of them, doubtless, very humble edifices. They were
solid masses of earth, cased with brick or stone, and in
their form somewhat resembled the pyramidal structures
of ancient Egypt. The bases of many of them were
more than a hundred feet square, and they towered to
a still greater height. They were distributed into four
or five stories, each of smaller dimensions than that
below. The ascent was by a flight of steps, at an angle
of the pyramid, on the outside. This led to a sort of
terrace, or gallery, at the base of the second story,
which passed quite round the building to another flight
of stairs, commencing also at the same angle as the
preceding and directly over it, and leading to a similar
terrace ; so that one had to make the circuit of the
temple several times, before reaching the summit. In
some instances the stairway led directly up the centre
of the western face of the building. The top was a
otus (Euterpe, passim) and Diodorus (lib. i, sec. 73, 81). The English
reader may consult, for the same purpose, Heeren (Hist. Res., vol. v.
chap. 2), Wilkinson (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians
(London, 1837), vol. i. pp. 257-279), the last writer especially, — who
has contributed, more than all others, towards opening to us the
interior of the social life of this interesting people.
* [Humboldt has noticed the curious similarity of the word teocalli
with the Greek compound — actual or possible — -deoKaTaa ; and Busch-
mann observes, " Die Obereinstimmung des mex. teotl und -&Eog, arith-
metisch sehr hoch anzuschlagen wegen des Doppelvocals, zeigt wie
weit es der Zufall in Wortahnlichkeiten zwischen ganz verschiedenen
Sprachen bringen kann." Uber die aztekischen Ortsnamen, S. 627. —
Ed.]
7 6 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
broad area, on which were erected one or two towers,
forty or fifty feet high, the sanctuaries in which stood
the sacred images of the presiding deities. Before
these towers stood the dreadful stone of sacrifice, and
two lofty altars, on which fires were kept, as inex-
tinguishable as those in the temple of Vesta. There
were said to be six hundred of these altars, on smaller
buildings within the enclosure of the great temple of
Mexico, which, with those on the sacred edifices in
other parts of the city, shed a brilliant illumination
over its streets, through the darkest night. 21
From the construction of their temples, all religious
services were public. The long processions of priests,
winding round their massive sides, as they rose higher
and higher towards the summit, and the dismal rites
of sacrifice performed there, were all visible from the
remotest corners of the capital, impressing on the
spectator's mind a superstitious veneration for the
mysteries of his religion, and for the dread ministers
by whom they were interpreted.
This impression was kept in full force by their numer-
ous festivals. Every month was consecrated to some
protecting deity; and every week, nay, almost every
21 Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 307. — Camargo,
Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 13. — Gomara, Cron., cap.
80, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. — Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 1,
cap. 4. — Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS. — This last writer, who visited
Mexico immediately after the Conquest, in 1521, assures us that some
of the smaller temples, or pyramids, were filled with earth impregnated
with odoriferous gums and gold dust ; the latter sometimes in such
quantities as probably to be worth a million of castellanos I (Ubi
supra.) These were the temples of Mammon, indeed ! But I find no
confirmation of such golden reports.
HUMAN SACRIFICES.
77
day, was set down in their calendar for some appro-
priate celebration ; so that it is difficult to understand
how the ordinary business of life could have been com-
patible with the exactions of religion. Many of their
ceremonies were of a light and cheerful complexion,
consisting of the national songs and dances, in which
both sexes joined. Processions were made of women
and children crowned with garlands and bearing offer-
ings of fruits, the ripened maize, or the sweet incense
of copal and other odoriferous gums, while the altars
of the deity were stained with no blood save that of
animals. 22 These were the peaceful rites derived from
their Toltec predecessors, on which the fierce Aztecs
engrafted a superstition too loathsome to be exhibited
in all its nakedness, and one over which I would gladly
draw a veil altogether, but that it would leave the
reader in ignorance of their most striking institution,
and one that had the greatest influence in forming the
national character.
Human sacrifices were adopted by the Aztecs early
in the fourteenth century, about two hundred years
before the Conquest. 23 Rare at first, they became
more frequent with the wider extent of their empire ;
22 Cod. Tel.-Rem., PI. i, and Cod. Vat., passim, ap. Antiq. of Mexico,
vols, i., vi. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. io, cap. 10, et seq. —
Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 2, passim. — Among the offer-
ings, quails may be particularly noticed, for the incredible quantities
of them sacrificed and consumed at many of the festivals.
*3 The traditions of their origin have somewhat of a fabulous tmge.
But, whether true or false, they are equally indicative of unparalleled
ferocity in the people who could be the subject of them. Clavigero,
Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p. 167, et seq. ; also Humboldt (who does
not appear to doubt them), Vues des Cordilleres, p. 95.
7*
78 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
till, at length, almost every festival was closed with this
cruel abomination. These religious ceremonials were
generally arranged in such a manner as to afford a type
of the most prominent circumstances in the character
or history of the deity who was the object of them.
A single example will suffice.
One of their most important festivals was that in
honor of the god Tezcatlipoca, whose rank was inferior
only to that of the Supreme Being. He was called
"the soul of the world," and supposed to have been
its creator. He was depicted as a handsome man, en-
dowed with perpetual youth. A year before the in-
tended sacrifice, a captive, distinguished for his personal
beauty, and without a blemish on his body, was selected
to represent this deity. Certain tutors took charge of
him, and instructed him how to perform his new part
with becoming grace and dignity. He was arrayed in
a splendid dress, regaled with incense and with a pro-
fusion of sweet-scented flowers, of which the ancient
Mexicans were as fond as their descendants at the
present day. When he went abroad, he was attended
by a train of the royal pages, and, as he halted in the
streets to play some favorite melody, the crowd pros-
trated themselves before him, and did him homage as
the representative of their good deity. In this way he
led an easy, luxurious life, till within a month of his
sacrifice. Four beautiful girls, bearing the names of
the principal goddesses, were then selected to share the
honors of his bed ; and with them he continued to live
in idle dalliance, feasted at the banquets of the principal
nobles, who paid him all the honors of a divinity.
At length the fatal day of sacrifice arrived. The
HUMAN SACRIFICES. 79
term of his short-lived glories was at an end. He was
stripped of his gaudy apparel, and bade adieu to the
fair partners of his revelries. One of the royal barges
transported him across the lake to a temple which rose
on its margin, about a league from the city. Hither
the inhabitants of the capital flocked, to witness the
consummation of the ceremony. As the sad proces-
sion wound up the sides of the pyramid, the unhappy
victim threw away his gay chaplets of flowers, and broke
in pieces the musical instruments with which he had
solaced the hours of captivity. On the summit he was
received by six priests, whose long and matted locks
flowed disorderly over their sable robes, covered with
hieroglyphic scrolls of mystic import. They led him
to the sacrificial stone, a huge block of jasper, with its
upper surface somewhat convex. On this the prisoner
was stretched. Five priests secured his head and his
limbs ; while the sixth, clad in a scarlet mantle, em-
blematic of his bloody office, dexterously opened the
breast of the wretched victim with a sharp razor of
itzttt, — a volcanic substance, hard as flint, — and, in-
serting his hand in the wound, tore out the palpitating
heart. The minister of death, first holding this up
towards the sun, an object of worship throughout Ana-
huac, cast it at the feet of the deity to whom the temple
was devoted, while the multitudes below prostrated
themselves in humble adoration. The tragic story of
this prisoner was expounded by the priests as the type
of human destiny, which, brilliant in its commence-
ment, too often closes in sorrow and disaster. 24
■4 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 2, cap. 2, 5, 24, et alibi. —
Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 3, lib. z, cap. 16. — Torquemada, Mo-
80 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Such was the form of human sacrifice usually prac-
tised by the Aztecs. It was the same that often met
the indignant eyes of the Europeans in their progress
through the country, and from the dreadful doom of
which they themselves were not exempted. There were,
indeed, some occasions when preliminary tortures, of
the most exquisite kind, — with which it is unnecessary
to shock the reader, — were inflicted, but they always ter-
minated with the bloody ceremony above described. It
should be remarked, however, that such tortures were not
the spontaneous suggestions of cruelty, as with the North
American Indians, but were all rigorously prescribed
in the Aztec ritual, and doubtless were often inflicted
with the same compunctious visitings which a devout
familiar of the Holy Office might at times experience
in executing its stern decrees. 25 Women, as well as the
narch. Ind., lib. 7, cap. 19 ; lib. 10, cap. 14. — Rel. d'un gentil' huomo,
ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 307. — Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 9-21. — Carta del
Lie. Zuazo, MS. — Relacion por el Regimiento de Vera Cruz (Julio,
1519), MS. — Few readers, probably, will sympathize with the sentence
of Torquemada, who concludes his tale of woe by coolly dismissing
" the soul of the victim, to sleep with those of his false gods, in hell !"
Lib. 10, cap. 23.
2 S Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 2, cap. 10, 29. — Gomara,
Cr6n., cap. 219, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. — Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS.,
Parte 1, cap. 6-11. — The reader will find a tolerably exact picture of
the nature of these tortures in the twenty-first canto of the " Inferno."
The fantastic creations of the Florentine poet were nearly realized, at
the very time he was writing, by the barbarians of an unknown world.
One sacrifice, of a less revolting character, deserves to be mentioned.
The Spaniards called it the " gladiatorial sacrifice," and it may remind
one of the bloody games of antiquity. A captive of distinction was
sometimes furnished with arms, and brought against a number of
Mexicans in succession. If he defeated them all, as did occasionally
happen, he was allowed to escape. If vanquished, he was dragged to
HUMAN SACRIFICES. 8 1
other sex, were sometimes reserved for sacrifice. On
some occasions, particularly in seasons of drought, at
the festival of the insatiable Tlaloc, the god of rain,
children, for the most part infants, were offered up.
As they were borne along in open litters, dressed in
their festal robes, and decked with the fresh blossoms
of spring, they moved the hardest heart to pity, though
their cries were drowned in the wild chant of the
priests, who read in their tears a favorable augury for
their petition. These innocent victims were generally
bought by the priests of parents who were poor, but
who stifled the voice of nature, probably less at the
suggestions of poverty than of a wretched superstition. 26
The most loathsome part of the story — the manner
in which the body of the sacrificed captive was disposed
of — remains yet to be told. It was delivered to the
warrior who had taken him in battle, and by him, after
being dressed, was served up in an entertainment to his
friends. This was not the coarse repast of famished
cannibals, but a banquet teeming with»delicious bever-
ages and delicate viands, prepared with art, and attended
by both sexes, who, as we shall see hereafter, conducted
themselves with all the decorum of civilized life.
Surely, never were refinement and the extreme of bar-
barism brought so closely in contact with each other. 27
the block and sacrificed in the usual manner. The combat was fought
on a huge circular stone, before the assembled capital. Sahagun, Hist,
de Nueva-Espaiia, lib. 2, cap. 21. — Rel. d'un gen til' huomo, ap.
Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 305.
26 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espaiia, lib. 2, cap. 1, 4, 21, et alibi. —
Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 10, cap. 10. — Clavigero, Stor. del
Messico, torn. ii. pp. 76, 82.
*7 Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 7,
D*
82 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Human sacrifices have been practised by many na-
tions, not excepting the most polished nations of anti-
quity ; 28 but never by any, on a scale to be compared
with those in Anahuac. The amount of victims immo-
lated on its accursed altars would stagger the faith of
the least scrupulous believer. Scarcely any author
pretends to estimate the yearly sacrifices throughout
the empire at less than twenty thousand, and some
carry the number as high as fifty thousand ! 29
cap. 19. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 17. — Sahagun,
Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 2, cap. 21, et alibi. — Toribio, Hist, de los
Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 2.
88 To say nothing of Egypt, where, notwithstanding the indications
on the monuments, there is strong reason for doubting it. (Comp.
Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 45.) It was of frequent occurrence among
the Greeks, as every schoolboy knows. In Rome, it was so common
as to require to be interdicted by an express law, less than a hundred
years before the Christian era, — a law recorded in a very honest strain
of exultation by Pliny (Hist. Nat., lib. 30, sec. 3, 4) ; notwithstand-
ing which, traces of the existence of the practice may be discerned
to a much later period. See, among others, Horace, Epod., In
Canidiam.
=9 See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p. 49. — Bishop Zumar-
raga, in a letter written a few years after the Conquest, states that
20,000 victims were yearly slaughtered in the capital. Torquemada
turns this into 20,000 infants. (Monarch. Ind.,lib. 7, cap. 21.) Herrera,
following Acosta, says 20,000 victims on a specified day of the year,
throughout the kingdom. (Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 2, cap. 16.)
Clavigero, more cautious, infers that this number may have been
sacrificed annually throughout Anahuac. (Ubi supra.) Las Casas,
however, in his reply to Sepulveda's assertion, that no one who had
visited the New World put the number of yearly sacrifices at less than
20,000, declares that " this is the estimate of brigands, who wish to find
an apology for their own atrocities, and that the real number was not
above 50"! (OEuvres, ed. Llorente (Paris, 1822), torn. i. pp. 365,
386.) Probably the good Bishop's arithmetic here, as in most other
instances, came more from his heart than his head. With such loose
HUMAN SACRIFICES.
83
On great occasions, as the coronation of a king or
the consecration of a temple, the number becomes
still more appalling. At the dedication of the great
temple of Huitzilopochtli, in i486, the prisoners, who
for some years had been reserved for the purpose, were
drawn from all quarters to the capital. They were
ranged in files, forming a procession nearly two miles
long. The ceremony consumed several days, and
seventy thousand captives are said to have perished at
the shrine of this terrible deity ! But who can believe
that so numerous a body would have suffered them-
selves to be led unresistingly like sheep to the slaughter ?
Or how could their remains, too great for consumption
in the ordinary way, be disposed of, without breeding
a pestilence in the capital? Yet the event was of
recent date, and is unequivocally attested by the best-
informed historians. 30 One fact may be considered
certain. It was customary to preserve the skulls of the
sacrificed, in buildings appropriated to the purpose.
The companions of Cortes counted one hundred and
and contradictory data, it is clear that any specific number is mere
conjecture, undeserving the name of calculation.
3° I am within bounds. Torquemada states the number, most pre-
cisely, at 72,344 (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 63) ; Ixtlilxochitl, with
equal precision, at 80,400. (Hist. Chich., MS.) &Quiensabe? The
latter adds that the captives massacred in the capital, in the course of
that memorable year, exceeded 100,000 ! (Loc. cit.) One, however,
has to read but a little way, to find out that the science of numbers
— at least where the party was not an eyewitness — is anything but
an exact science with these ancient chroniclers. The Codex Telleriano-
Remensis, written some fifty years after the Conquest, reduces the
amount to 20,000. (Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. PI. 19 ; vol. vi. p. 141,
Eng. note.) Even this hardly warrants the Spanish interpreter in
calling king Ahuitzotl a man " of a mild and moderate disposition,"
templaday benigna condition 1 Ibid., vol. v. p. 49.
84 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
thirty-six thousand in one of these edifices ! 31 Without
attempting a precise calculation, therefore, it is safe to
conclude that thousands were yearly offered up, in the
different cities of Anahuac, on the bloody altars of the
Mexican divinities. 33
Indeed, the great object of war, with the Aztecs,
was quite as much to gather victims for their sacrifices
as to extend their empire. Hence it was that an enemy
was never slain in battle, if there were a chance of
taking him alive. To this circumstance the Spaniards
repeatedly owed their preservation. When Montezuma
was asked " why he had suffered the republic of Tlas-
cala to maintain her independence on his borders," he
replied, "that she might furnish him with victims for
his gods " ! As the supply began to fail, the priests,
the Dominicans of the New World, bellowed aloud for
more, and urged on their superstitious sovereign by
the denunciations of celestial wrath. Like the militant
churchmen of Christendom in the Middle Ages, they
mingled themselves in the ranks, and were conspicuous
in the thickest of the fight, by their hideous aspect and
frantic gestures. Strange, that, in every country, the
31 Gomara states the number on the authority of two soldiers, whose
names he gives, who took the trouble to count the grinning horrors
in one of these Golgothas, where they were so arranged as to produce
the most hideous effect. The existence of these conservatories is
attested by every writer of the time.
3» The " Anonymous Conqueror" assures us, as a fact beyond dis-
pute, that the Devil introduced himself into the bodies of the idols,
and persuaded the silly priests that his only diet was human hearts 1
It furnishes a very satisfactory solution, to his mind, cf the frequency
of sacrifices in Mexico. Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ar. Ramusio, torn,
jii. fol. 307.
HUMAN SACRIFICES.
85
most fiendish passions of the human heart have been
those kindled in the name of religion ! 33
The influence of these practices on the Aztec char-
acter was as disastrous as might have been expected.
Familiarity with the bloody rites of sacrifice steeled
the heart against human sympathy, and begat a thirst
for carnage, like that excited in the Romans by the
exhibitions of the circus. The perpetual recurrence
of ceremonies, in which the people took part, asso-
ciated religion with their most intimate concerns, and
spread the gloom of superstition over the domestic
hearth, until the character of the nation wore a grave
and even melancholy aspect, which belongs to their
descendants at the present day. The influence of the
priesthood, of course, became unbounded. The sov-
ereign thought himself honored by being permitted to
assist in the services of the temple. Far from limiting
the authority of the priests to spiritual matters, he
often surrendered his opinion to theirs, where they
33 The Tezcucan priests would fain have persuaded the good king
Nezahualcoyotl, on occasion of a pestilence, to appease the gods by
the sacrifice of some of his own subjects, instead of his enemies ; on
the ground that they would not only be obtained more easily, but
would be fresher victims, and more acceptable. (Ixtlilxochitl, Hist.
Chich., MS., cap. 41.) This writer mentions a cool arrangement
entered into by the allied monarchs with the republic of Tlascala and
her confederates. A battle-field was marked out, on which the troops
of the hostile nations were to engage at stated seasons, and thus supply
themselves with subjects for sacrifice. The victorious party was not
to pursue his advantage by invading the other's territory, and they
were to continue, in all other respects, on the most amicable footing.
(Ubi supra.) The historian, who follows in the track of the Tezcucan
Chronicler, may often find occasion to shelter himself, like Ariosto,
with
"Mettendolo Turpin, lo metto anch' io."
Vol. I. 8
86 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
were least competent to give it. It was their opposi-
tion that prevented the final capitulation which would
have saved the capital. The whole nation, from the
peasant to the prince, bowed their necks to the worst
kind of tyranny, that of a blind fanaticism.
In reflecting on the revolting usages recorded in the
preceding pages, one finds it difficult to reconcile their
existence with anything like a regular form of govern-
ment, or an advance in civilization. 34 Yet the Mex-
34 [Don Jose F. Ramirez, the distinguished Mexican scholar, has
made this sentence the text for a disquisition of fifty pages or more,
one object of which is to show that the existence of human sacrifices
is not irreconcilable with an advance in civilization. This leads him
into an argument of much length, covering a broad range of historical
inquiry, and displaying much learning as well as a careful considera-
tion of the subject. In one respect, however, he has been led into an
important error by misunderstanding the drift of my remarks, where,
speaking of cannibalism, I say, " It is impossible the people who
practise it should make any great progress in moral or intellectual
culture" (p. 88). This observation, referring solely to cannibalism,
the critic cites as if applied by me to human sacrifices. Whatever
force, therefore, his reasoning may have in respect to the latter, it
cannot be admitted to apply to the former. The distance is wide
between human sacrifices and cannibalism ; though Senor Ramirez
diminishes this distance by regarding both one and the other simply
as religious exercises, springing from the devotional principle in our
nature.* He enforces his views by a multitude of examples from
history, which show how extensively these revolting usages of the
Aztecs — on a much less gigantic scale indeed — have been practised
by the primitive races of the Old World, some of whom, at a later
period, made high advances in civilization. Ramirez, Notas y Escla-
* [The practice of eating, or tasting, the victim has been generally-
associated with sacrifice, from the idea either of the sacredness of the
offering or of the deity's accepting the soul, the immaterial part, or the
blood as containing the principle of life, and leaving the flesh to his
worshippers. — Ed.]
HUMAN SACRIFICES. 87
icans had many claims to the character of a civilized
community. One may, perhaps, better understand
the anomaly, by reflecting on the condition of some
of the most polished countries in Europe, in the six-
teenth century, after the establishment of the modern
Inquisition, — an institution which yearly destroyed its
thousands, by a death more painful than the Aztec
sacrifices ; which armed the hand of brother against
brother, and, setting its burning seal upon the lip, did
more to stay the march of improvement than any other
scheme ever devised by human cunning.
Human sacrifice, however cruel, has nothing in it
degrading to its victim. It may be rather said to
ennoble him by devoting him to the gods. Although
• so terrible with the Aztecs, it was sometimes volun-
tarily embraced by them, as the most glorious death
and one that opened a sure passage into paradise. 33
The Inquisition, on the other hand, branded its vic-
tims with infamy in this world, and consigned them to
everlasting perdition in the next.
One detestable feature of the Aztec superstition,
however, sunk it far below the Christian. This was
its cannibalism ; though, in truth, the Mexicans were
not cannibals in the coarsest acceptation of the term.
They did not feed on human flesh merely to gratify a
recimientos a la Historia del Conquista de Mexico del Sefior W.
Prescott, appended to Navarro's translation.]
33 Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 307. — Among
other instances is that of Chimalpopoca, third king of Mexico, who
doomed himself, with a number of his lords, to this death, to wipe
off an indignity offered him by a brother monarch. (Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 28.) This was the law of honor with the
Aztecs.
88 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
brutish appetite, but in obedience to their religion.
Their repasts were made of the victims whose blood
had been poured out on the altar of sacrifice. This is
a distinction worthy of notice. 36 Still, cannibalism,
under any form or whatever sanction, cannot but have
a fatal influence on the nation addicted to it. It sug-
gests ideas so loathsome, so degrading to man, to his
spiritual and immortal nature, that it is impossible the
people who practise it should make any great progress
in moral or intellectual culture. The Mexicans furnish
no exception to this remark. The civilization which
they possessed descended from the Toltecs, a race who
never stained their altars, still less their banquets, with
the blood of man. 37 All that deserved the name of
science in Mexico came from this source; and the
crumbling ruins of edifices attributed to them, still
extant in various parts of New Spain, show a decided
superiority in their architecture over that of the later
3 s Voltaire, doubtless, intends this, when he says, " lis n'etaient
point anthropophages, comme un tres-petit nombre de peuplades
Americaines." (Essai sur les Mosurs, chap. 147.)
37 [The remark in the text admits of some qualification. According
to an ancient Tezcucan chronicler, quoted by Sefior Ramirez, the
Toltecs celebrated occasionally the worship of the god Tlaloc with
human sacrifices. The most important of these was the offering up
once a year of five or six maidens, who were immolated in the usual
horrid way of tearing out their hearts. It does not appear that the
Toltecs consummated the sacrifice by devouring the flesh of the victim.
This seems to have been the only exception to the blameless character
of the Toltec rites. Tlaloc was the oldest deity in the Aztec mythol-
ogy, in which he found a suitable place. Yet, as the knowledge of him
was originally derived from the Toltecs, it cannot be denied that this
people, as Ramirez says, possessed in their peculiar civilization the
germs of those sanguinary institutions which existed on so appalling a
scale in Mexico. See Ramirez, Notas y Esclarecimientos, ubi supra.]
HUMAN SACRIFICES. 89
races of Anahuac. It is true, the Mexicans made great
proficiency in many of the social and mechanic arts,
in that material culture, — if I may so call it, — the
natural growth of increasing opulence, which ministers
to the gratification of the senses. In purely intel-
lectual progress they were behind the Tezcucans, whose
wise sovereigns came into the abominable rites of
their neighbors with reluctance and practised them on
a much more moderate scale. 38
In this state of things, it was beneficently ordered
by Providence that the land should be delivered over
to another race, who would rescue it from the brutish
superstitions that daily extended wider and wider with
extent of empire. 39 The debasing institutions of the
Aztecs furnish the best apology for their conquest. It
is true, the conquerors brought along with them the
Inquisition. But they also brought Christianity, whose
benign radiance would still survive when the fierce
flames of fanaticism should be extinguished ; dispelling
those dark forms of horror which had so long brooded
over the fair regions of Anahuac.
38 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 45, et alibi.
39 No doubt the ferocity of character engendered by their sangui-
nary rites greatly facilitated their conquests. Machiavelli attributes to
a similar cause, in part, the military successes of the Romans. (Dis-
corsi sopra T. Livio, lib. 2, cap. 2.) The same chapter contains some
ingenious reflections — much more ingenious than candid — on the
opposite tendencies of Christianity.
The most important authority in the preceding chapter, and, in-
deed, wherever the Aztec religion is concerned, is Bernardino de
Sahagun, a Franciscan friar, contemporary with the Conquest. His
great work, Historia universal de Nueva-Espana, has been recently
printed for the first time. The circumstances attending its compila-
8*
9°
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
lion and subsequent fate form one of the most remarkable passages
in literary history.
Sahagun was born in a place of the same name, in old Spain. He
was educated at Salamanca, and, having taken the vows of St. Fran-
cis, came over as a missionary to Mexico in the year 1529. Here he
distinguished himself by his zeal, the purity of his life, and his un-
wearied exertions to spread the great truths of religion among the
natives. He was the guardian of several conventual houses, succes-
sively, until he relinquished these cares, that he might devote himself
more unreservedly to the business of preaching, and of compiling
various works designed to illustrate the antiquities of the Aztecs. For
these literary labors he found some facilities in the situation which he
continued to occupy, of reader, or lecturer, in the College of Santa
Cruz, in the capital.
The " Universal History" was concocted in a singular manner. In
order to secure to it the greatest possible authority, he passed some
years in a Tezcucan town, where he conferred daily with a number
of respectable natives unacquainted with Castilian. He propounded
to them queries, which they, after deliberation, answered in their
usual method of writing, by hieroglyphical paintings. These he sub-
mitted to other natives, who had been educated under his own eye in
the College of Santa Cruz ; and the latter, after a consultation among
themselves, gave a written version, in the Mexican tongue, of the
hieroglyphics. This process he repeated in another place, in some
part of Mexico, and subjected the whole to a still further revision by
a third body in another quarter. He finally arranged the combined
results into a regular history, in the form it now bears ; composing it
in the Mexican language, which he could both write and speak with
great accuracy and elegance, — greater, indeed, than any Spaniard of
the time.
The work presented a mass of curious information, that attracted
much attention among his brethren. But they feared its influence in
keeping alive in the natives a too vivid reminiscence of the very super-
stitions which it was the great object of the Christian clergy to eradi-
cate. Sahagun had views more liberal than those of his order, whose
blind zeal would willingly have annihilated every monument of art
and human ingenuity which had not been produced under the influ-
ence of Christianity. They refused to allow him the necessary aid to
transcribe his papers, which he had been so many years in preparing,
under the pretext that the expense was too great for their order to incur.
SAHAGUN.
9 r
This occasioned a further delay of several years. What was worse,
his provincial got possession of his manuscripts, which were soon
scattered among the different religious houses in the country.
In this forlorn state of his affairs, Sahagun drew up a brief state-
ment of the nature and contents of his work, and forwarded it to
Madrid. It fell into the hands of Don Juan de Ovando, president of
the Council for the Indies, who was so much interested in it that he
ordered the manuscripts to be restored to their author, with the re-
quest that he would at once set about translating them into Castilian.
This was accordingly done. His papers were recovered, though not
without the menace of ecclesiastical censures ; and the octogenarian
author began the work of translation from the Mexican, in which they
had been originally written by him thirty years before. He had the
satisfaction to complete the task, arranging the Spanish version in a
parallel column with the original, and adding a vocabulary, explaining
the difficult Aztec terms and phrases ; while the text was supported by
the numerous paintings on which it was founded. In this form, making
two bulky volumes in folio, it was sent to Madrid. There seemed now
to be no further reason for postponing its publication, the importance
of which could not be doubted. But from this moment it disappears ;
and we hear nothing further of it, for more than two centuries, except
only as a valuable work, which had once existed and was probably
buried in some one of the numerous cemeteries of learning in which
Spain abounds.
At length, towards the close of the last century, the indefatigable
Munoz succeeded in disinterring the long-lost manuscript from the
place tradition had assigned to it, — the library of a convent at Tolosa,
in Navarre, the northern extremity of Spain. With his usual ardor,
he transcribed the whole work with his own hands, and added it to the
inestimable collection, of which, alas ! he was destined not to reap the
full benefit himself. From this transcript Lord Kingsborough was
enabled to procure the copy which was published in 1830, in the sixth
volume of his magnificent compilation. In it he expresses an honest
satisfaction at being the first to give Sahagun's work to the world.
But in this supposition he was mistaken. The very year preceding,
an edition of it, with annotations, appeared in Mexico, in three vol-
umes octavo. It was prepared by Bustamante, — a scholar to whose
editorial activity his country is largely indebted, — from a copy of the
MuSoz manuscript which came into his possession. Thus this re-
markable work, which was denied the honors of the press during the
92 SAHAGUN.
author's lifetime, after passing into oblivion, reappeared, at the distance
of nearly three centuries, not in his own country, but in foreign lands
widely remote from each other, and that almost simultaneously. The
story is extraordinary, though unhappily not so extraordinary in Spain
as it would be elsewhere.
Sahagun divided his history into twelve books. The first eleven
are occupied with the social institutions of Mexico, and the last with
the Conquest. On the religion of the country he is particularly full.
His great object evidently was, to give a clear view of its mythology,
and of the burdensome ritual which belonged to it. Religion entered
so intimately into the most private concerns and usages of the Aztecs,
that Sahagun's work must be a text-book for every student of their
antiquities. Torquemada availed himself of a manuscript copy, which
fell into his hands before it was sent to Spain, to enrich his own pages,
— a circumstance more fortunate for his readers than for Sahagun's
reputation, whose work, now that it is published, loses much of the
originality and interest which would otherwise attach to it. In one
respect it is invaluable ; as presenting a complete collection of the
various forms of prayer, accommodated to every possible emergency,
in use by the Mexicans. They are often clothed in dignified and beau-
tiful language, showing that sublime speculative tenets are quite com-
patible with the most degrading practices of superstition. It is much to
be regretted that we have not the eighteen hymns inserted by the author
in his book, which would have particular interest, as the only specimen
of devotional poetry preserved of the Aztecs. The hieroglyphical
paintings, which accompanied the text, are also missing. If they have
escaped the hands of fanaticism, both may reappear at some future
day.
Sahagun produced several other works, of a religious or philologi-
cal character. Some of these were voluminous, but none have been
printed. He lived to a very advanced age, closing a life of activity
and usefulness, in 1590, in the capital of Mexico. His remains were
followed to the tomb by a numerous concourse of his own country-
men, and of the natives, who lamented in him the loss of unaffected
piety, benevolence, and learning.
CHAPTER IV.
MEXICAN HIEROGLYPHICS. MANUSCRIPTS. — ARITHME-
TIC. — CHRONOLOGY. ASTRONOMY.
It is a relief to turn from the gloomy pages of the
preceding chapter to a brighter side of the picture,
and to contemplate the same nation in its generous
struggle to raise itself from a state of barbarism and to
take a positive rank in the scale of civilization. It is
not the less interesting, that these efforts were made on
an entirely new theatre of action, apart from those in-
fluences that operate in the Old World ; the inhabitants
of which, forming one great brotherhood of nations,
are knit together by sympathies that make the faintest
spark of knowledge, struck out in one quarter, spread
gradually wider and wider, until it has diffused a cheering
light over the remotest. It is curious to observe the
human mind, in this new position, conforming to the
same laws as on the ancient continent, and taking a sim-
ilar direction in its first inquiries after truth, — so similar,
indeed, as, although not warranting, perhaps, the idea
of imitation, to suggest at least that of a common origin.
In the Eastern hemisphere we find some nations, as
the Greeks, for instance, early smitten with such a love
of the beautiful as to be unwilling to dispense with it
even in the graver productions of science ; and other
nations, again, proposing a severer end to themselves,
(93)
94
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
to which even imagination and elegant art were made
subservient. The productions of such a people must
be criticised, not by the ordinary rules of taste, but
by their adaptation to the peculiar end for which they
were designed. Such were the Egyptians in the Old
World, 1 and the Mexicans in the New. We have
already had occasion to notice the resemblance borne
by the latter nation to the former in their religious
economy. We shall be more struck with it in their
scientific culture, especially their hieroglyphical writing
and their astronomy.
To describe actions and events by delineating visible
objects seems to be a natural suggestion, and is practised,
after a certain fashion, by the rudest savages. The North
American Indian carves an arrow on the bark of trees
to show his followers the direction of his march, and
some other sign to show the success of his expeditions.
But to paint intelligibly a consecutive series of these
actions — forming what Warburton has happily called
picture-writing' 1 — requires a combination of ideas that
amounts to a positively intellectual effort. Yet further,
when the object of the painter, instead of being limited
1 "An Egyptian temple," says Denon, strikingly, "is an open vol-
ume, in which the teachings of science, morality, and the arts are
recorded. Every thing seems to speak one and the same language,
and breathes one and the same spirit." The passage is cited by
Heeren, Hist. Res., vol. v. p. 178.
8 Divine Legation, ap. Works (London, 1811), vol. iv. b. 4, sec. 4.
— The Bishop of Gloucester, in his comparison of the various hiero-
glyphical systems of the world, shows his characteristic sagacity and
boldness by announcing opinions little credited then, though since
established. He affirmed the existence of an Egyptian alphabet, but
was not aware of the phonetic property of hieroglyphics, — the great
literary discovery of our age.
MEXICAN HIEROGLYPHICS.
95
to the present, is to penetrate the past, and to gather
from its dark recesses lessons of instruction for coming
generations, we see the dawnings of a literary culture,
and recognize the proof of a decided civilization in
the attempt itself, however imperfectly it may be exe-
cuted. The literal imitation of objects will not answer
for this more complex and extended plan. It would
occupy too much space, as well as time in the execu-
tion. It then becomes necessary to abridge the pictures,
to confine the drawing to outlines, or to such prominent
parts of the bodies delineated as may readily suggest
the whole. This is the representative or figurative
writing, which forms the lowest stage of hieroglyphics.
But there are things which have no type in the
material world ; abstract ideas, which can only be
represented by visible objects supposed to have some
quality analogous to the idea intended. This con-
stitutes symbolical writing, the most difficult of all to
the interpreter, since the analogy between the material
and immaterial object is often purely fanciful, or local
in its application. Who, for instance, could suspect
the association which made a beetle represent the uni-
verse, as with the Egyptians, or a serpent typify time,
as with the Aztecs ?
The third and last division is the phonetic, in which
signs are made to represent sounds, either entire words,
or parts of them. This is the nearest approach of the
hieroglyphical series to that beautiful invention, the
alphabet, by which language is resolved into its ele-
mentary sounds, and an apparatus supplied for easily
and accurately expressing the most delicate shades of
thought.
96 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
The Egyptians were well skilled in all three kinds
of hieroglyphics. But, although their public monu-
ments display the first class, in their ordinary inter-
course and written records it is now certain that they
almost wholly relied on the phonetic character. Strange
that, having thus broken down the thin partition which
divided them from an alphabet, their latest monuments
should exhibit no nearer approach to it than their
earliest. 3 The Aztecs, also, were acquainted with the
several varieties of hieroglyphics. But they relied on
the figurative infinitely more than on the others. The
Egyptians were at the top of the scale, the Aztecs at
the bottom.
In casting the eye over a Mexican manuscript, or
map, as it is called, one is struck with the grotesque
caricatures it exhibits of the human figure ; monstrous,
overgrown heads, on puny, misshapen bodies, which
are themselves hard and angular in their outlines, and
without the least skill in composition. On closer
inspection, however, it is obvious that it is not so
much a rude attempt to delineate nature, as a conven-
tional symbol, to express the idea in the most clear
and forcible manner ; in the same way as the pieces
3 It appears that the hieroglyphics on the most recent monuments
of Egypt contain no larger infusion of phonetic characters than those
which existed eighteen centuries before Christ ; showing no advance,
in this respect, for twenty-two hundred years ! (See Champollion,
Precis du Systeme hieroglyphique des anciens Egyptiens (Paris, 1824),
pp. 242, 281.) It may seem more strange that the enchorial alphabet,
so much more commodious, should not have been substituted. But
the Egyptians were familiar with their hieroglyphics from infancy,
which, moreover, took the fancies of the most illiterate, probably in
the same manner as our children are attracted and taught by the
picture-alphabets in an ordinary spelling-book.
MEXICAN HIEROGL YPHICS.
97
of similar value on a chess-board, while they corre-
spond with one another in form, bear little resemblance,
usually, to the objects they represent. Those parts
of the figure are most distinctly traced which are the
most important. So, also, the coloring, instead of the
delicate gradations of nature, exhibits only gaudy and
violent contrasts, such as may produce the most vivid
impression. "For even colors," as Gama observes,
"speak in the Aztec hieroglyphics." 4
But in the execution of all this the Mexicans were
much inferior to the Egyptians. The drawings of the
latter, indeed, are exceedingly defective, when criti-
cised by the rules of art ; for they were as ignorant of
perspective as the Chinese, and only exhibited the
head in profile, with the eye in the centre, and with
total absence of expression. But they handled the
pencil more gracefully than the Aztecs, were more
true to the natural forms of objects, and, above all,
showed great superiority in abridging the original
figure by giving only the outline, or some character-
istic or essential feature. This simplified the process,
and facilitated the communication of thought. An
Egyptian text has almost the appearance of alphabet-
ical writing in its regular lines of minute figures. A
Mexican text looks usually like a collection of pictures,
each one forming the subject of a separate study. This
is particularly the case with the delineations of mythol-
ogy ; in which the story is told by a conglomeration
of symbols, that may remind one more of the mys-
♦ Description hist6rica y crono!6gica de las Dos Piedras (Mexico,
1832), Parte 2, p. 39.
Vol. I. — e 9
9 8 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
terious anaglyphs sculptured on the temples of the
Egyptians, than of their written records.
The Aztecs had various emblems for expressing
such things as, from their nature, could not be di-
rectly represented by the painter ; as, for example, the
years, months, days, the seasons, the elements, the
heavens, and the like. A "tongue" denoted speak-
ing ; a " footprint," travelling ; a "man sitting on the
ground," an earthquake. These symbols were often
very arbitrary, varying with the caprice of the writer ;
and it requires a nice discrimination to interpret them,
as a slight change in the form or position of the figure
intimated a very different meaning. 3 An ingenious
writer asserts that the priests devised secret symbolic
characters for the record of their religious mysteries.
It is possible. But the researches of Champollion lead
to the conclusion that the similar opinion formerly
entertained respecting the Egyptian hieroglyphics is
without foundation. 6
Lastly, they employed, as above stated, phonetic
5 Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 32, 44. — Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 7. —
The continuation of Gama's work, recently edited by Bustamante, in
Mexico, contains, among other things, some interesting remarks on the
Aztec hieroglyphics. The editor has rendered a good service by this
further publication of the writings of this estimable scholar, who has
done more than any of his countrymen to explain the mysteries of
Aztec science.
6 Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, p. 32. — Warburton, with his usual
penetration, rejects the idea of mystery in the figurative hieroglyphics.
(Divine Legation, b. 4, sec. 4.) If there was any mystery reserved
for the initiated, Champollion thinks it may have been the system of
the anaglyphs. (Precis, p. 360.) Why may not this be true, likewise,
of the monstrous symbolical combinations which represented the
Mexican deities ?
MEXICAN HIEROGLYPHICS.
99
signs, though these were chiefly confined to the names
of persons and places ; which, being derived from some
circumstance or characteristic quality, were accom-
modated to the hieroglyphical system. Thus, the town
Cimatlan was compounded of cimatl> a " root," which
grew near it, and tlan, signifying "near;" Tlaxcallan
meant "the place of bread," from its rich fields of
corn ; Huexotzinco, "a place surrounded by willows."
The names of persons were often significant of their
adventures and achievements. That of the great Tez-
cucan prince Nezahualcoyotl signified "hungry fox,"
intimating his sagacity, and his distresses in early life. 7
The emblems of such names were no sooner seen, than
they suggested to every Mexican the person and place
intended, and, when painted on their shields or em-
broidered on their banners, became the armorial bear-
ings by which city and chieftain were distinguished, as
in Europe in the age of chivalry. 8
But, although the Aztecs were instructed in all the
varieties of hieroglyphical painting, they chiefly re-
sorted to the clumsy method of direct representation.
Had their empire lasted, like the Egyptian, several
thousand years, instead of the brief space of two hun-
dred, they would doubtless, like them, have advanced
7 Boturini, Idea, pp. 77-83. — Gama, Description, Parte 2, pp. 34-
43. — Heeren is not aware, or does not allow, that the Mexicans used
phonetic characters of any kind. (Hist. Res., vol. v. p. 45.) They,
indeed, reversed the usual order of proceeding, and, instead of adapt-
ing the hieroglyphic to the name of the object, accommodated the
name of the object to the hieroglyphic. This, of course, could not
admit of great extension. We find phonetic characters, however,
applied in some instances to common as well as proper names.
8 Boturini, Idea, ubi supra.
I0O AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
to the more frequent use of the phonetic writing. But,
before they could be made acquainted with the capa-
bilities of their own system, the Spanish Conquest,
by introducing the European alphabet, supplied their
scholars with a more perfect contrivance for expressing
thought, which soon supplanted the ancient pictorial
character. 9
Clumsy as it was, however, the Aztec picture-writing
seems to have been adequate to the demands of the
nation, in their imperfect state of civilization. By
means of it were recorded all their laws, and even their
regulations for domestic economy; their tribute-rolls,
specifying the imposts of the various towns; their
mythology, calendars, and rituals; their political an-
nals, carried back to a period long before the founda-
tion of the city. They digested a complete system of
chronology, and could specify with accuracy the dates
of the most important events in their history ; the year
being inscribed on the margin, against the particular
circumstance recorded. It is true, history, thus exe-
cuted, must necessarily be vague and fragmentary.
Only a few leading incidents could be presented. But
in this it did not differ much from the monkish chron-
icles of the dark ages, which often dispose of years
in a few brief sentences, — quite long enough for the
annals of barbarians."
9 Clavigero has given a catalogue of the Mexican historians of the
sixteenth century, — some of whom are often cited in this history, —
which bears honorable testimony to the literary ardor and intelligence
of the native races. Stor. del Messico, torn, i., Pref. — Also, Gama,
Descripcion, Parte i, passim.
10 M. de Humboldt's remark, that the Aztec annals, from the close
of the eleventh century, " exhibit the greatest method and astonish-
MANUSCRIPTS. ioi
In order to estimate aright the picture-writing of the
Aztecs, one must regard it in connection with oral
tradition, to which it was auxiliary. In the colleges
of the priests the youth were instructed in astronomy,
history, mythology, etc. ; and those who were to fol-
low the profession of hieroglyphical painting were
taught the application of the characters appropriated
to each of these branches. In an historical work, one
had charge of the chronology, another of the events.
Every part of the labor was thus mechanically distrib-
uted." The pupils, instructed in all that was before
known in their several departments, were prepared to
extend still further the boundaries of their imperfect
science. The hieroglyphics served as a sort of stenog-
raphy, a collection of notes, suggesting to the initiated
ing minuteness" (Vues des Cordilleres, p. 137), must be received with
some qualification. The reader would scarcely understand from it
that there are rarely more than one or two facts recorded in any year,
and sometimes not one in a dozen or more. The necessary looseness
and uncertainty of these historical records are made apparent by the
remarks of the Spanish interpreter of the Mendoza Codex, who tells
us that the natives, to whom it was submitted, were very long in coming
to an agreement about the proper signification of the paintings. Antiq.
of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 87.
" Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, p. 30. — Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 7. — ■
" Tenian para cada genero," says Ixtlilxochid, " sus Escritores, unos que
trataban de los Anales, poniendo por su orden las cosas que acaecian
en cada un ano, con dia, mes, y hora ; otros tenian i. su cargo las
Genealogias, y descendencia de los Reyes, Senores, y Personas de
linaje, asentando por cuenta y razon los que nacian, y borraban los
que morian con la misma cuenta. Unos tenian cuidado de las pintu-
ras, de los terminos, limites, y mojoneras de las Ciudades, Provincias,
Pueblos, y Lugares, y de las suertes, y repartimiento de las tierras
cuyas eran, y i. quien pertenecian ; otros de los libros de Leyes, ritos,
y ceremonias que usaban." Hist. Chich., MS., Prologo.
9*
102 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
much more than could be conveyed by a literal inter-
pretation. This combination of the written and the
oral comprehended what may be called the literature
of the Aztecs."
Their manuscripts were made of different materials,
— of cotton cloth, or skins nicely prepared ; of a com-
position of silk and gum ; but, for the most part, of a
fine fabric from the leaves of the aloe, agave Americana,
called by the natives maguey, which grows luxuriantly
over the table-lands of Mexico. A sort of paper was
made from it, resembling somewhat the Egyptian
papyrus, 13 which, when properly dressed and polished,
is said to have been more soft and beautiful than
parchment. Some of the specimens, still existing,
exhibit their original freshness, and the paintings on
13 According to Boturini, the ancient Mexicans were acquainted
with the Peruvian method of recording events by means of the quip-
pus, — knotted strings of various colors, — which were afterwards super-
seded by hieroglyphical painting. (Idea, p. 86.) He could discover,
however, but a single specimen, which he met with in Tlascala, and
that had nearly fallen to pieces with age. McCulloh suggests that it
may have been only a wampum belt, such as is common among our
North American Indians. (Researches, p. 201.) The conjecture is
plausible enough. Strings of wampum, of various colors, were used
by the latter people for the similar purpose of registering events. The
insulated fact, recorded by Boturini, is hardly sufficient — unsupported,
so far as I know, by any other testimony — to establish the existence
of quippus among the Aztecs, who had but little in common with the
Peruvians.
J 3 Pliny, who gives a minute account of the papyrus reed of Egypt,
notices the various manufactures obtained from it, as ropes, cloth,
paper, etc. It also served as a thatch for the roofs of houses, and as
food and drink for the natives. (Hist. Nat., lib. 11, cap. 20-22.) It
is singular that the American agave, a plant so totally different, should
also have been applied to all these various uses.
MANUSCRIPTS. 103
them retain their brilliancy of colors. They were
sometimes done up into rolls, but more frequently into
volumes, of moderate size, in which the paper was
shut up, like a folding screen, with a leaf or tablet of
wood at each extremity, that gave the whole, when
closed, the appearance of a book. The length of the
strips was determined only by convenience. As the
pages might be read and referred to separately, this
form had obvious advantages over the rolls of the
ancients. 14
At the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, great
quantities of these manuscripts were treasured up in
the country. Numerous persons were employed in
painting, and the dexterity of their operations excited
the astonishment of the Conquerors. Unfortunately,
this was mingled with other and unworthy feelings.
The strange, unknown characters inscribed on them
excited suspicion. They were looked on as magic
scrolls, and were regarded in the same light with the
idols and temples, as the symbols of a pestilent super-
stition, that must be extirpated. The first archbishop
of Mexico, Don Juan de Zumarraga, — a name that
should be as immortal as that of Omar, — collected
M Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, p. 8. — Boturini, Idea, p. 96.
— Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 52. — Peter Martyr Anglerius,
De Orbe Novo (Compluti, 1530), dec. 3, cap. 8; dec. 5, cap. 10. —
Martyr has given a minute description of the Indian maps sent home
soon after the invasion of New Spain. His inquisitive mind was struck
with the evidence they afforded of a positive civilization. Ribera, the
friend of Cortes, brought back a story that the paintings were designed
as patterns for embroiderers and jewellers. But Martyr had been in
Egypt, and he felt little hesitation in placing the Indian drawings in
the same class with those he had seen on the obelisks and temples of
that country.
io4
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
these paintings from every quarter, especially from
Tezcuco, the most cultivated capital in Anahuac, and
the great depository of the national archives. He then
caused them to be piled up in a " mountain -heap " —
as it is called by the Spanish writers themselves — in
the market-place of Tlatelolco, and reduced them all
to ashes ! ,s His greater countryman, Archbishop Xi-
menes, had celebrated a similar auto-da-fe of Arabic
manuscripts, in Granada, some twenty years before.
Never did fanaticism achieve two more signal triumphs
than by the annihilation of so many curious monuments
of human ingenuity and learning ! l6
The unlettered soldiers were not slow in imitating
the example of their prelate. Every chart and volume
which fell into their hands was wantonly destroyed ;
so that, when the scholars of a later and more en-
lightened age anxiously sought to recover some of
these memorials of civilization, nearly all had perished,
and the few surviving were jealously hidden by the
»s Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., Prdlogo.— Idem, Sum. Relac,
MS. — ["The name of Zumarraga," says Senor Alaman, "has other
and very different titles to immortality from that mentioned by Mr.
Prescott, — titles founded on his virtues and apostolic labors, especially
on the fervid zeal with which he defended the natives and the manifold
benefits he secured to them. The loss that history suffered by the
destruction of the Indian manuscripts by the missionaries has been in
a great measure repaired by the writings of the missionaries them-
selves." Conquista de Mejico (trad, de Vega), torn. i. p. 60.] — Writers
are not agreed whether the conflagration took place in the square of
Tlatelolco or Tezcuco. Comp. Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii.
p. 188, and Bustamante's Pref. to Ixtlilxochitl, Cruautes des Con-
querans, trad, de Ternaux, p. xvii.
16 It has been my lot to record both these displays of human in-
firmity, so humbling to the pride of intellect. See the History of
Ferdinand and Isabella, Part 2, chap. 6.
MANUSCRIPTS.
x <>5
natives. 17 Through the indefatigable labors of a pri-
vate individual, however, a considerable collection was
eventually deposited in the archives of Mexico, but
was so little heeded there that some were plundered,
others decayed piecemeal from the damps and mildews,
and others, again, were used up as waste paper ! ,8 We
contemplate with indignation the cruelties inflicted by
the early conquerors. But indignation is qualified
with contempt when we see them thus ruthlessly tram-
pling out the spark of knowledge, the common boon
and property of all mankind. We may well doubt
which has the stronger claim to civilization, the victor
or the vanquished.
A few of the Mexican manuscripts have found their
way, from time to time, to Europe, and are carefully
preserved in the public libraries of its capitals. They
are brought together in the magnificent work of Lord
Kingsborough ; but not one is there from Spain. The
most important of them, for the light it throws on the
Aztec institutions, is the Mendoza Codex; which, after
its mysterious disappearance for more than a century,
has at length reappeared in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford. It has been several times engraved. 19 The
*7 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 10, cap. 27. — Bustamante,
Mananas de Alameda (Mexico, 1836), torn, ii., Prologo.
18 Very many of the documents thus painfully amassed in the
archives of the Audience of Mexico were sold, according to Busta-
mante, as wrapping-paper, to apothecaries, shopkeepers, and rocket-
makers ! Boturini's noble collection has not fared much better.
x 9 The history of this famous collection is familiar to scholars. It
was sent to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, not long after the Con-
quest, by the viceroy Mendoza, Marques de Mondejar. The vessel
fell into the hands of a French cruiser, and the manuscript was taken
to Paris. It was afterwards bought by the chaplain of the English
E*
106 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
most brilliant in coloring, probably, is the Borgian
collection, in Rome. 20 The most curious, however, is
embassy, and, coming into the possession of the antiquary Purchas,
was engraved, in extenso, by him, in the third volume of his " Pil-
grimage." After its publication, in 162*5, the Aztec original lost its
importance, and fell into oblivion so completely that, when at length
the public curiosity was excited in regard to its fate, no trace of it
could be discovered. Many were the speculations of scholars, at
home and abroad, respecting it, and Dr. Robertson settled the ques-
tion as to its existence in England, by declaring that there was no
Mexican relic in that country, except a golden goblet of Montezuma.
(History of America (London, 1796), vol. iii. p. 370.) Nevertheless,
the identical Codex, and several other Mexican paintings, have been
since discovered in the Bodleian Library. The circumstance has
brought some obloquy on the historian, who, while prying into the
collections of Vienna and the Escorial, could be so blind to those
under his own eyes. The oversight will not appear so extraordinary
to a thorough-bred collector, whether of manuscripts, or medals, or
any other rarity. The Mendoza Codex is, after all, but a copy, coarsely
done with a pen on European paper. Another copy, from which Arch-
bishop Lorenzana engraved his tribute-rolls in Mexico, existed in
Boturini's collection. A third is in the Escorial, according to the
Marquis of Spineto. (Lectures on the Elements of Hieroglyphics
(London), Lect. 7.) This may possibly be the original painting. The
entire Codex, copied from the Bodleian maps, with its Spanish and
English interpretations, is included in the noble compilation of Lord
Kingsborough. (Vols, i., v., vi.) It is distributed into three parts,
embracing the civil history of the nation, the tributes paid by the
cities, and the domestic economy and discipline of the Mexicans, and,
from the fulness of the interpretation, is of much importance in regard
to these several topics.
20 It formerly belonged to the Giustiniani family, but was so little
cared for that it was suffered to fall into the mischievous hands of the
domestics' children, who made sundry attempts to burn it. Fortu-
nately, it was painted on deerskin, and, though somewhat singed, was
not destroyed. (Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 89, et seq.) It
is impossible to cast the eye over this brilliant assemblage of forms
and colors without feeling how hopeless must be the attempt to recover
a key to the Aztec mythological symbols ; which are here distributed
MANUSCRIPTS.
107
the Dresden Codex, which has excited less attention
than it deserves. Although usually classed among
Mexican manuscripts, it bears little resemblance to
them in its execution ; the figures of objects are more
delicately drawn, and the characters, unlike the Mex-
ican, appear to be purely arbitrary, and are possibly
phonetic. 21 Their regular arrangement is quite equal
to the Egyptian. The whole infers a much higher
civilization than the Aztec, and offers abundant food
for curious speculation. Ba
with the symmetry, indeed, but in all the endless combinations, of the
kaleidoscope. It is in the third volume of Lord Kingsborough's work.
81 Humboldt, who has copied some pages of i* in his "Atlas pitto-
resque," intimates no doubt of its Aztec origin. (Vues des Cordilleres,
pp. 266, 267.) M. Le Noir even reads in it an exposition of Mexican
Mythology, with occasional analogies to that of Egypt and of Hin-
dostan. (Antiquites Mexicaines, torn, ii., Introd.) The fantastic forms
of hieroglyphic symbols may afford analogies for almost anything.
22 The history of this Codex, engraved entire in the third volume of
the "Antiquities of Mexico," goes no further back than 1739, when it
was purchased at Vienna for the Dresden Library. It is made of the
American agave. The figures painted on it bear little resemblance,
cither in feature or form, to the Mexican. They are surmounted by
a sort of head-gear, which looks something like a modern peruke.
On the chin of one we may notice a beard, a sign often used after the
Conquest to denote a European. Many of the persons are sitting
cross-legged. The profiles of the faces, and the whole contour of the
limbs, are sketched with a spirit and freedom very unlike the hard,
angular outlines of the Aztecs. The characters, also, are delicately
traced, generally in an irregular but circular form, and are very
minute. They are arranged, like the Egyptian, both horizontally
and perpendicularly, mostly in the former manner, and, from the
prevalent direction of the profiles, would seem to have been read
from right to left. Whether phonetic or ideographic, they are of
that compact and purely conventional sort which belongs to a well-
digested system for the communication of thought. One cannot but
regret that no trace should exist of the quarter whence this MS. was
108 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Some few of these maps have interpretations annexed
to them, which were obtained from the natives after
the Conquest. 23 The greater part are without any, and
cannot now be unriddled. Had the Mexicans made
free use of a phonetic alphabet, it might have been
originally easy, by mastering the comparatively few
signs employed in this kind of communication, to
have got a permanent key to the whole. 24 A brief
obtained ; perhaps some part of Central America, from the region of
the mysterious races who built the monuments of Mitla and Palenque;
though, in truth, there seems scarcely more resemblance in the symbols
to the Palenque bas-reliefs than to the Aztec paintings.*
=3 There are three of these : the Mendoza Codex ; the Telleriano-
Remensis, — formerly the property of Archbishop Tellier, — in the Royal
Library of Paris ; and the Vatican MS., No. 3738. The interpreta-
tion of the last bears evident marks of its recent origin ; probably as
late as the close of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth
century, when the ancient hieroglyphics were read with the eye of
faith rather than of reason. Whoever was the commentator (comp.
Vues des Cordilleres, pp. 203, 204; and Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. pp.
155, 222), he has given such an exposition as shows the old Aztecs to
have been as orthodox Christians as any subjects of the Pope.
=4 The total number of Egyptian hieroglyphics discovered by Cham-
pollion amounts to 864 ; and of these 130 only are phonetic, notwith-
standing that this kind of character is used far more frequently than
both the others. Precis, p. 263 ; — also Spineto, Lectures, Lect. 3.
* [Mr. Stephens, who, like Humboldt, considered the Dresden
Codex a Mexican manuscript, compared the characters of it with those
on the altar of Copan, and drew the conclusion that the inhabitants
of that place and of Palenque must have spoken the same language
as the Aztecs. Prescott's opinion has, however, been confirmed by
later critics, who have shown that the hieroglyphics of the Dresden
Codex are quite different from those at Copan and Palenque, while
the Mexican writing bears not the least resemblance to either.
See Orozco y Berra, Geografia de las Lenguas de Mexico, p. 101.
— ED.]
MANUSCRIPTS.
109
inscription has furnished a clue to the vast labyrinth
of Egyptian hieroglyphics. But the Aztec characters,
representing individuals, or, at most, species, require
to be made out separately ; a hopeless task, for which
little aid is to be expected from the vague and general
tenor of the few interpretations now existing. There
was, as already mentioned, until late in the last cen-
tury, a professor in the University of Mexico, especially
devoted to the study of the national picture-writing.
But, as this was with a view to legal proceedings, his
information, probably, was limited to deciphering titles.
In less than a hundred years after the Conquest, the
knowledge of the hieroglyphics had so far declined
that a diligent Tezcucan writer complains he could
find in the country only two persons, both very aged,
at all competent to interpret them. 25
It is not probable, therefore, that the art of reading
these picture-writings will ever be recovered; a cir-
cumstance certainly to be regretted Not that the
records of a semi-civilized people would be likely to
contain any new truth or discovery important to human
comfort or progress ; but they could scarcely fail to
throw some additional light on the previous history of
2 S Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., Dedic. — Boturini, who travelled
through every part of the country in the middle of the last century,
could not meet with an individual who could afford him the least
clue to the Aztec hieroglyphics. So completely had ever}' vestige of
their ancient language been swept away from the memory of the
natives. (Idea, p. 116.) If we are to believe Bustamante, how-
ever, a complete key to the whole system is, at this moment, some-
where in Spain. It was carried home, at the time of the process
against Father Mier, in 1795. The name of the Mexican Champol-
lion who discovered it is Borunda. Gama, Descripcion, torn. ii. p.
33, nota.
Vol. I. — 10
no AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
the nation, and that of the more polished people who
before occupied the country. This would be still more
probable, if any literary relics of their Toltec prede-
cessors were preserved ; and, if report be true, an
important compilation from this source was extant at
the time of the invasion, and may have perhaps con-
tributed to swell the holocaust of Zumarraga. 26 It is
no great stretch of fancy to suppose that such records
might reveal the successive links in the mighty chain
of migration of the primitive races, and, by carrying
us back to the seat of their possessions in the Old
26 Teoamoxtli, " the divine book," as it was called. According to
Ixtlilxochitl, it was composed by a Tezcucan doctor, named Hue-
matzin, towards the close of the seventeenth century. (Relaciones, MS.)
It gave an account of the migrations of his nation from Asia, of the
various stations on their journey, of their segular succession up to
thirteen. The same system was pursued through the
four indictions, which thus, it will be observed, began
always with a different hieroglyphic of the year from
the preceding; and in this way each of the hiero-
glyphics was made to combine successively with each
of the numerical signs, but never twice with the same ;
since four, and thirteen, the factors of fifty-two, — the
number of years in the cycle, — must admit of just as
many combinations as are equal to their product.
Thus every year had its appropriate symbol, by which
it was at once recognized. And this symbol, preceded
by the proper number of "bundles" indicating the
half-centuries, showed the precise time which had
elapsed since the national epoch of 1091. 44 The inge-
43 These hieroglyphics were a "rabbit," a "reed," a "flint," a
" house." They were taken as symbolical of the four elements, air,
water, fire, earth, according to Veytia. (Hist, antig., torn. i. cap. 5.)
It is not easy to see the connection between the terms "rabbit" and
"air," which lead the respective series." 3 *
44 The following table of two of the four indictions of thirteen years
each will make the text more clear. The first column shows the actual
year of the great cycle, or "bundle." The second, the numerical
dots used in their arithmetic. The third is composed of their hiero-
glyphics for rabbit, reed, flint, house, in their regular order.
* [The fleet and noiseless motions of the animal seem to offer an
obvious explanation of the symbol. — Ed.]
CHRONOLOGY.
119
nious contrivance of a periodical series, in place of the
cumbrous system of hieroglyphical notation, is not
First Indiction.
Year
of the
Cycle.
13.
%
Second Indiction.
Year
of the
Cycle.
14.
is.
16.
17.
18.
19.
23.
24.
25.
26.
e&
<s
By pursuing the combinations through the two remaining indictions,
it will be found that the same number of dots will never coincide with
120 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
peculiar to the Aztecs, and is to be found among va-
rious nations on the Asiatic continent, — the same in
principle, though varying materially in arrangement.'* 5
The solar calendar above described might have
answered all the purposes of the people ; but the priests
chose to construct another for themselves. This was
called a "lunar reckoning," though nowise accommo-
dated to the revolutions of the moon. 46 It was formed,
the same hieroglyphic. These tables are generally thrown into the
form of wheels, as are those also of their months and days, having a
very pretty effect. Several have been published, at different times,
from the collections of Siguenza and Boturini. The wheel of the
great cycle of fifty-two years is encompassed by a serpent, which was
also the symbol of " an age," both with the Persians and Egyptians.
Father Toribio seems to misapprehend the nature of these chrono-
logical wheels: "Tenian rodelas y escudos, y en ellas pintadas las
figuras y armas de sus Demonios con su blason." Hist, de los Indios,
MS., Parte i, cap. 4.
45 Among the Chinese, Japanese, Moghols, Mantchous, and other
families of the Tartar race. Their series are composed of symbols of
their five elements, and the twelve zodiacal signs, making a cycle of
sixty years' duration. Their several systems are exhibited, in connec-
tion with the Mexican, in the luminous pages of Humboldt (Vues
des Cordilleres, p. 149), who draws important consequences from the
comparison, to which we shall have occasion to return hereafter.
46 In this calendar, the months of the tropical year were distributed
into cycles of thirteen days, which, being repeated twenty times, —
the number of days in a solar month,— completed the lunar, or astro-
logical, year of 260 days ; when the reckoning began again. " By the
contrivance of these trecenas (terms of thirteen days) and the cycle of
fifty-two years," says Gama, " they formed a luni-solar period, most
exact for astronomical purposes." (Description, Parte 1, p. 27.) He
adds that these trecenas were suggested by the periods in which the
moon is visible before and after conjunction. (Loc. cit.) It seems
hardly possible that a people capable of constructing a calendar so
accurately on the true principles of solar time should so grossly err
as to suppose that in this reckoning they really " represented the daily
CHRONOLOGY. 121
also, of two periodical series, one of them consisting
of thirteen numerical signs, or dots, the other, of the
twenty hieroglyphics of the days. But, as the product
of these combinations would be only 260, and as some
confusion might arise from the repetition of the same
terms for the remaining 105 days of the year, they
invented a third series, consisting of nine additional
hieroglyphics, which, alternating with the two pre-
ceding series, rendered it impossible that the three
should coincide twice in the same year, or indeed in
less than 2340 days ; since 20 x 13 x 9 = 2340. 47 Thir-
teen was a mystic number, of frequent use in their
tables. 48 Why they resorted to that of nine, on this
occasion, is not so clear. 49
revolutions of the moon." "The whole Eastern world," says the
learned Niebuhr, "has followed the moon in its calendar; the free
scientific division of a vast portion of time is peculiar to the West.
Connected with the West is that primeval extinct world which we call
the New." History of Rome, vol. i. p. 239.
47 They were named "companions," and "lords of the night,"
and were supposed to preside over the night, as the other signs did
over the day. Boturini, Idea, p. 57.
■*8 Thus, their astrological year was divided into months of thirteen
days ; there were thirteen years in their indictions, which contained
each three hundred and sixty-five periods of thirteen days, etc. It
is a curious fact that the number of lunar months of thirteen days
contained in a cycle of fifty-two years, with the intercalation, should
correspond precisely with the number of years in the great Sothic
period of the Egyptians, namely, 1491 ; a period in which the seasons
and festivals came round to the same place in the year again. The
coincidence may be accidental. But a people employing periodical
series and astrological calculations have generally some meaning in
the numbers they select and the combinations to which they lead.
+9 According to Gama (Descripcion, Parte 1, pp. 75, 76), because 360
can be divided by nine without a fraction ; the nine " companions"
not being attached to the five complementary days. But 4, a mystic
Vol. I. — f 11
122 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
This second calendar rouses a holy indignation in
the early Spanish missionaries, and Father Sahagun
loudly condemns it, as "most unhallowed, since it is
founded neither on natural reason, nor on the influence
of the planets, nor on the true course of the year ; but
is plainly the work of necromancy, and the fruit of a
compact with the Devil!" 30 One may doubt whether
the superstition of those who invented the scheme was
greater than that of those who thus impugned it. At
all events, we may, without having recourse to super-
natural agency, find in the human heart a sufficient
explanation of its origin ; in that love of power, that
number much used in their arithmetical combinations, would have
answered the same purpose equally well. In regard to this, McCulloh
observes, with much shrewdness, " It seems impossible that the Mex-
icans, so careful in constructing their cycle, should abruptly terminate
it with 360 revolutions, whose natural period of termination is 2340."
And he supposes the nine " companions" were used in connection
with the cycles of 260 days, in order to throw them into the larger
ones, of 2340; eight of which, with a ninth of 260 days, he ascertains
to be equal to the great solar period of 52 years. (Researches, pp.
207, 208.) This is very plausible. But in fact the combinations of the
two first series, forming the cycle of 260 days, were always interrupted
at the end of the year, since each new year began with the same
hieroglyphic of the days. The third series of the " companions" was
intermitted, as above stated, on the five unlucky days which closed
the year, in order, if we may believe Boturini, that the first day of the
solar year might have annexed to it the first of the nine " compan-
ions," which signified " lord of the year" (Idea, p. 57) ; a result which '
might have been equally well secured, without any intermission at all,
by taking 5, another favorite number, instead of 9, as the divisor. As
it was, however, the cycle, as far as the third series was concerned, did
terminate with 360 revolutions. The subject is a perplexing one, and
I can hardly hope to have presented it in such a manner as to make
it perfectly clear to the reader.
5° Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 4, Introd.
CHRONOLOGY.
123
has led the priesthood of many a faith to affect a mys-
tery the key to which was in their own keeping.
By means of this calendar, the Aztec priests kept
their own records, regulated the festivals and seasons
of sacrifice, and made all their astrological calcula-
tions. 51 The false science of astrology is natural to a
state of society partially civilized, where the mind, im-
patient of the slow and cautious examination by which
alone it can arrive at truth, launches at once into the
regions of speculation, and rashly attempts to lift the
veil — the impenetrable veil — which is drawn around
the mysteries of nature. It is the characteristic of true
science to discern the impassable, but not very obvious,
limits which divide the province of reason from that
of speculation. Such knowledge comes tardily. How
many ages have rolled away, in which powers that,
rightly directed, might have revealed the great laws
of nature, have been wasted in brilliant but barren
reveries on alchemy and astrology !
The latter is more particularly the study of a primi-
tive age ; when the mind, incapable of arriving at the
stupendous fact that the myriads of minute lights glow-
ing in the firmament are the centres of systems as glorious
as our own, is naturally led to speculate on their prob-
able uses, and to connect them in some way or other
with man, for whose convenience every other object in
the universe seems to have been created. As the eye
51 " Dans les pays les plus differents," says Benjamin Constant, con-
cluding some sensible reflections on the sources of the sacerdotal
power, " chez les peuples de mceurs les plus opposees, le sacerdoce a
du au culte des elements et des astres un pouvoir dont aujourd'hui
nous concevons a peine l'idee." De la Religion (Paris, 1825), lib. 3,
ch. 5.
124 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
of the simple child of nature watches, through the long
nights, the stately march of the heavenly bodies, and
sees the bright hosts coming up, one after another, and
changing with the changing seasons of the year, he
naturally associates them with those seasons, as the
periods over which they hold a mysterious influence.
In the same manner, he connects their appearance with
any interesting event of the time, and explores, in their
flaming characters, the destinies of the new-born in-
fant. 52 Such is the origin of astrology, the false lights
of which have continued from the earliest ages to dazzle
and bewilder mankind, till they have faded away in
the superior illumination of a comparatively recent
period.
The astrological scheme of the Aztecs was founded
less on the planetary influences than on those of the
arbitrary signs they had adopted for the months and
days. The character of the leading sign in each lunar
cycle of thirteen days gave a complexion to the whole ;
though this was qualified in some degree by the signs
of the succeeding days, as well as by those of the hours.
It was in adjusting these conflicting forces that the
great art of the diviner was shown. In no country,
not even in ancient Egypt, were the dreams of the
astrologer more implicitly deferred to. On the birth
52 " It is a gentle and affectionate thought,
That, in immeasurable heights above us,
At our first birth the wreath of love was woven
With sparkling stars for flowers."
Coleridge : Translation of Wallenstein, act 2, sc. 4.
Schiller is more true to poetry than history, when he tells us, in the
beautiful passage of which this is part, that the worship of the stars
took the place of classic mythology. It existed long before it.
ASTRONOMY.
I2 5
of a child, he was instantly summoned. The time of
the event was accurately ascertained ; and the family
hung in trembling suspense, as the minister of Heaven
cast the horoscope of the infant and unrolled the dark
volume of destiny. The influence of the priest was
confessed by the Mexican in the very first breath which
he inhaled. 53
We know little further of the astronomical attain-
ments of the Aztecs. That they were acquainted with
the cause of eclipses is evident from the representa-
tion, on their maps, of the disk of the moon projected
on that of the sun. 54 Whether they had arranged a
system of constellations is uncertain ; though that they
recognized some of the most obvious, as the Pleiades,
for example, is evident from the fact that they regu-
lated their festivals by them. We know of no astro-
nomical instruments used by them, except the dial. ss
53 Gama has given us a complete almanac of the astrologioal year,
with the ^appropriate signs and divisions, showing with what scientific
skill it was adapted to its various uses. (Descripcion, Parte i, pp.
25-31, 62-76.) Sahagun has devoted a whole book to explaining the
mystic import and value of these signs, with a minuteness that may
enable one to cast up a scheme of nativity for himself. (Hist, de Nueva-
Espafia, lib. 4.) It is evident he fully believed the magic wonders
which he told. "It was a deceitful art," he says, "pernicious and
idolatrous, and was never contrived by human reason." The good
father was certainly no philosopher.
54 See, among others, the Cod. Tel.-Rem., Part 4, PI. 22, ap. Antiq.
of Mexico, vol. i.
55 " It can hardly be doubted," says Lord Kingsborough, " that the
Mexicans were acquainted with many scientifical instruments of strange
invention, as compared with our own ; whether the telescope may not
have been of the number is uncertain ; but the thirteenth plate of M.
Dupaix's Monuments, Part Second, which represents a man holding
something of a similar nature to his eye, affords reason to suppose
II
*
126 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
An immense circular block of carved stone, disinterred
in 1 790, in the great square of Mexico, has supplied an
acute and learned scholar with the means of establish-
ing some interesting facts in regard to Mexican
science. 56 This colossal fragment, on which the
calendar is engraved, shows that they had the means
of settling the hours of the day with precision, the
periods of the solstices and of the equinoxes, and that
of the transit of the sun across the zenith of Mexico. 57
We cannot contemplate the astronomical science of
the Mexicans, so disproportioned to their progress in
other walks of civilization, without astonishment. An
acquaintance with some of the more obvious principles
of astronomy is within the reach of the rudest people.
that they knew how to improve the powers of vision." (Antiq. of
Mexico, vol. vi. p. 15, note.) The instrument alluded to is rudely
carved on a conical rock. It is raised no higher than the neck of the
person who holds it, and looks — to my thinking — as much like a musket
as a telescope ; though I shall not infer the use of fire-arms among the
Aztecs from this circumstance. (See vol. iv. PI. 15.) Captain* Dupaix,
however, in his commentary on the drawing, sees quite as much in it
as his lordship. Ibid., vol. v. p. 241.
56 Gama, Descripcion, Parte 1, sec. 4; Parte 2, Apend. — Besides this
colossal fragment, Gama met with some others, designed, probably, for
similar scientific uses, at Chapoltepec. Before he had leisure to ex-
amine them, however, they were broken up for materials to build a
furnace, — a fate not unlike that which has too often befallen the monu-
ments of ancient art in the Old World.
57 In his second treatise on the cylindrical stone, Gama dwells more
at large on its scientific construction, as a vertical sun-dial, in order to
dispel the doubts of some sturdy skeptics on this point. (Descripcion,
Parte 2, Apend. 1.) The civil day was distributed by the Mexicans
into sixteen parts, and began, like that of most of the Asiatic nations,
with sunrise. M. de Humboldt, who probably never saw Gama's
second treatise, allows only eight intervals. Vues des Cordilleres,
p. 128.
ASTRONOMY.
127
With a little care, they may learn to connect the regular
changes of the seasons with those of the place of the
sun at his rising and setting. They may follow the
march of the great luminary through the heavens, by
watching the stars that first brighten on his evening
track or fade in his morning beams. They may measure
a revolution of the moon, by marking her phases, and
may even form a general idea of the number of such
revolutions in a solar year. But that they should be
capable of accurately adjusting their festivals by the
movements of the heavenly bodies, and should fix the
true length of the tropical year, with a precision un-
known to the great philosophers of antiquity, could be
the result only of a long series of nice and patient ob-
servations, evincing no slight progress in civilization. 38
But whence could the rude inhabitants of these moun-
tain-regions have derived this curious erudition ? Not
from the barbarous hordes who roamed over the higher
latitudes of the North ; nor from the more polished
races on the Southern continent, with whom, it is ap-
parent, they had no intercourse. If we are driven, in
our embarrassment, like the greatest astronomer of our
age, to seek the solution among the civilized commu-
nities of Asia, we shall still be perplexed by finding,
58 " TJn calendrier," exclaims the enthusiastic Carli, " qui est regie 1
sur la revolution annuelle du soleil, non-seulement par l'addition de
cinq jours tous les ans, mais encore par la correction du bissextile, doit
sans doute etre regard^ comme une operation deduite d'une etude
r£fl£chie, et d'une grande combinaison. II faut done supposer chez
ces peuples une suite d' observations astronomiques, une idee distincte
de la sphere, de la declinaison de l'ecliptique, et l'usage d'un calcul
concernant les jours et les heures des apparitions solaires." Lettres
Americaines, torn. i. let. 23.
128 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
amidst general resemblance of outline, sufficient dis-
crepancy in the details to vindicate, in the judgments
of many, the Aztec claim to originality. 39
I shall conclude the account of Mexican science
with that of a remarkable festival, celebrated by the
natives at the termination of the great cycle of fifty-two
years. We have seen, in the preceding chapter, their
tradition of the destruction of the world at four suc-
cessive epochs. They looked forward confidently to
another such catastrophe, to take place, like the pre-
ceding, at the close of a cycle, when the sun was to be
effaced from the heavens, the human race from the
earth, and when the darkness of chaos was to settle on
the habitable globe. The cycle would end in the latter
part of December, and as the dreary season of the
winter solstice approached, and the diminished light
of day gave melancholy presage of its speedy extinction,
their apprehensions increased ; and on the arrival of
the five "unlucky" days which closed the year they
abandoned themselves to despair. 60 They broke in
pieces the little images of their household gods, in
whom they no longer trusted. The holy fires were
suffered to go out in the temples, and none were lighted
in their own dwellings. Their furniture and domestic
utensils were destroyed ; their garments torn in pieces ;
59 La Place, who suggests the analogy, frankly admits the difficulty.
Systeme du Monde, lib. 5, ch. 3.
60 M. Jomard errs in placing the new fire, with which ceremony the
old cycle properly concluded, at the winter solstice. It was not till
the 26th of December, if Gama is right. The cause of M. Jomard's
error is his fixing it before, instead of after, the complementary days.
See his sensible letter on the Aztec calendar, in the Vues des Cor-
dilleres, p. 309.
ASTRONOMY.
129
and every thing was thrown into disorder, for the
coming of the evil genii who were to descend on the
desolate earth.
On the evening of the last day, a procession of
priests, assuming the dress and ornaments of their gods,
moved from the capital towards a lofty mountain, about
two leagues distant. They carried with them a noble
victim, the flower of their captives, and an apparatus
for kindling the new fire, the success of which was an
augury of the renewal of the cycle. On reaching the
summit of the mountain, the procession paused till
midnight ; when, as the constellation of the Pleiades
approached the zenith, 61 the new fire was kindled by
the friction of the sticks placed on the wounded breast
of the victim. 6 * The flame was soon communicated to
a funeral pile, on which the body of the slaughtered
captive was thrown. As the light streamed up towards
heaven, shouts of joy and triumph burst forth from the
countless multitudes who covered the hills, the terraces
of the temples, and the house-tops, with eyes anxiously
bent on the mount of sacrifice. Couriers, with torches
61 At the actual moment of their culmination, according to both
Sahagun (Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 4, Apend.) and Torquemada
(Monarch. Ind., lib. io, cap. 33, 36). But this could not be, as that
took place at midnight, in November, so late as the last secular
festival, which was early in Montezuma's reign, in 1507. (Gama,
Descripcion, Parte 1, p. 50, nota. — Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres,
pp. 181, 182.) The longer we postpone the beginning of the new
cycle, the greater must be the discrepancy.
* a " On his bare breast the cedar boughs are laid ;
On his bare breast, dry sedge and odorous gums.
Laid ready to receive the sacred spark,
And blaze, to herald the ascending Sun.
Upon his living altar."
Southey's Madoc, part 2, canto 26.
130 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
lighted at the blazing beacon, rapidly bore them over
every part of the country ; and the cheering element
was seen brightening on altar and hearth-stone, for the
circuit of many a league, long before the sun, rising on
his accustomed track, gave assurance that a new cycle
had commenced its march, and that the laws of nature
were not to be reversed for the Aztecs.
The following thirteen days were given up to fes-
tivity. The houses were cleansed and whitened. The
broken vessels were replaced by new ones. The people,
dressed in their gayest apparel, and crowned with gar-
lands and chaplets of flowers, thronged in joyous pro-
cession to offer up their oblations and thanksgivings in
the temples. Dances and games were instituted, em-
blematical of the regeneration of the world. It was
the carnival of the Aztecs; or rather the national
jubilee, the great secular festival, like that of the
Romans, or ancient Etruscans, which few alive had
witnessed before, or could expect to see again. 63
6 3 I borrow the words of the summons by which the people were
called to the ludi seculares, the secular games of ancient Rome, " quos
nee spectasset qztisquam, nee spectaturus esset." (Suetonius, Vita Tib.
Claudii, lib. 5.) The old Mexican chroniclers warm into something
like eloquence in their descriptions of the Aztec festival. (Torque-
mada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 10, cap. 33. — Toribio, Hist, de los. Indios,
MS., Parte 1, cap. 5. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 7, cap.
9-12. See, also, Gama, Descripcion, Parte 1, pp. 52-54, — Clavigero,
Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 84-86.) The English reader will find a
more brilliant coloring of the same scene in the canto of Madoc above
cited, — " On the Close of the Century."
M. de Humboldt remarked, many years ago, " It were to be wished
that some government would publish at its own expense the remains
of the ancient American civilization ; for it is only by the comparison
LORD KINGSBOROUGH.
J 3i
of several monuments that we can succeed in discovering the meaning
of these allegories, which are partly astronomical and partly mystic."
This enlightened wish has now been realized, not by any government,
but by a private individual, Lord Kingsborough. The great work
published under his auspices, and so often cited in this Introduction,
appeared in London in 1830. When completed it will reach to nine
volumes, seven of which are now before the public. Some idea of its
magnificence may be formed by those who have not seen it, from the
fact that copies of it, with colored plates, sold originally at £17$,
and, with uncolored, at ^120. The price has been since much re-
duced. It is designed to exhibit a complete view of the ancient Aztec
MSS., with such few interpretations as exist; the beautiful drawings
of Castaneda relating to Central America, with the commentary of
Dupaix ; the unpublished history of Father Sahagun ; and, last, not
least, the copious annotations of his lordship.
Too much cannot be said of the mechanical execution of the book,
— its splendid typography, the apparent accuracy and the delicacy of
the drawings, and the sumptuous quality of the materials. Yet the
purchaser would have been saved some superfluous expense, and the
reader much inconvenience, if the letter-press had been in volumes
of an ordinary size. But it is not uncommon, in works on this mag-
nificent plan, to find utility in some measure sacrificed to show.
The collection of Aztec MSS., if not perfectly complete, is very
extensive, and reflects great credit on the diligence and research of
the compiler. It strikes one as strange, however, that not a single
document should have been drawn from Spain. Peter Martyr speaks
of a number having been brought thither in his time. (De Insulis
nuper Inventis, p. 368.) The Marquis Spineto examined one in the
Escorial, being the same with the Mendoza Codex, and perhaps the
original, since that at Oxford is but a copy. (Lectures, Lect. 7.) Mr.
Waddilove, chaplain of the British embassy to Spain, gave a particular
account of one to Dr. Robertson, which he saw in the same library
and considered an Aztec calendar. Indeed, it is scarcely possible that
the frequent voyagers to the New World should not have furnished
the mother-country with abundant specimens of this most interesting
feature of Aztec civilization. Nor should we fear that the present
liberal government would seclude these treasures from the inspection
of the scholar.
Much cannot be said in favor of the arrangement of these codices.
In some of them, as the Mendoza Codex, for example, the plates are
132
LORD KINGSBOROUGH.
not even numbered ; and one who would study them by the corre-
sponding interpretation must often bewilder himself in the maze of
hieroglyphics, without a clue to guide him. Neither is there any
attempt to enlighten us as to the positive value and authenticity
of the respective documents, or even their previous history, beyond a
barren reference to the particular library from which they have been
borrowed. Little light, indeed, can be expected on these matters ; but
we have not that little. The defect of arrangement is chargeable on
other parts of the work. Thus, for instance, the sixth book of Sahagun
is transferred from the body of the history to which it belongs, to a
preceding volume; while the grand hypothesis of his lordship, for
which the work was concocted, is huddled into notes, hitched on ran-
dom passages of the text, with a good deal less connection than the
stories of Queen Scheherezade, in the "Arabian Nights," and not
quite so entertaining.
The drift of Lord Kingsborough's speculations is, to establish the
colonization of Mexico by the Israelites. To this the whole battery
of his logic and learning is directed. For this, hieroglyphics are un-
riddled, manuscripts compared, monuments delineated. His theory,
however, whatever be its merits, will scarcely become popular ; since,
instead of being exhibited in a clear and comprehensive form, readily
embraced by the mind, it is spread over an infinite number of notes,
thickly sprinkled with quotations from languages ancient and modern,
till the weary reader, floundering about in the ocean of fragments,
with no light to guide him, feels like Milton's Devil, working his way
through chaos, —
" neither sea,
Nor good dry land ; nigh foundered, on he fares."
It would be unjust, however, not to admit that the noble author, if
his logic is not always convincing, shows much acuteness in detecting
analogies ; that he displays familiarity with his subject, and a fund of
erudition, though it often runs to waste ; that, whatever be the defects
of arrangement, he has brought together a most rich collection of
unpublished materials to illustrate the Aztec and, in a wider sense,
American antiquities ; and that by this munificent undertaking, which
no government, probably, would have, and few individuals could have,
executed, he has entitled himself to the lasting gratitude of every friend
of science.
Another writer whose works must be diligently consulted by every
student of Mexican antiquities is Antonio Gama. His life contains as
GAMA. 133
few incidents as those of most scholars. He was born at Mexico,
in 1735, of a respectable family, and was bred to the law. He early
showed a preference for mathematical studies, conscious that in this
career lay his strength. In 1771 he communicated his observations
on the eclipse of that year to the French astronomer M. de Lalande,
who published them in Paris, with high commendations of the author.
Gama's increasing reputation attracted the attention of government ;
and he was employed by it in various scientific labors of importance.
His great passion, however, was the study of Indian antiquities. He
made himself acquainted with the history of the native races, their
traditions, their languages, and, as far as possible, their hieroglyphics.
He had an opportunity of showing the fruits of this preparatory train-
ing, and his skill as an antiquary, on the discovery of the great calen-
dar-stone, in 1790. He produced a masterly treatise on this, and
another Aztec monument, explaining the objects to which they were
devoted, and pouring a flood of light on the astronomical science of
the aborigines, their mythology, and their astrological system. He
afterwards continued his investigations in the same path, and wrote
treatises on the dial, hieroglyphics, and arithmetic of the Indians.
These, however, were not given to the world till a few years since,
when they were published, together with a reprint of the former work,
under the auspices of the industrious Bustamante. Gama died in
1802, leaving behind him a reputation for great worth in private life, —
one in which the bigotry that seems to enter too frequently into the
character of the Spanish-Mexican was tempered by the liberal feelings
of a man of science. His reputation as a writer stands high for patient
acquisition, accuracy, and acuteness. His conclusions are neither
warped by the love of theory so common in the philosopher, nor by
the easy credulity so natural to the antiquary. He feels his way with
the caution of a mathematician, whose steps are demonstrations. M.
de Humboldt was largely indebted to his first work, as he has emphat-
ically acknowledged. But, notwithstanding the eulogiums of this
popular writer, and his own merits, Gama's treatises are rarely met
with out of New Spain, and his name can hardly be said to have a
transatlantic reputation.
Vol. I. 12
CHAPTER V.
AZTEC AGRICULTURE. — MECHANICAL ARTS. MERCHANTS.
DOMESTIC MANNERS.
It is hardly possible that a nation so far advanced
as the Aztecs in mathematical science should not have
made considerable progress in the mechanical arts,
which are so nearly connected with it. Indeed, intel-
lectual progress of any kind implies a degree of refine-
ment that requires a certain cultivation of both useful
and elegant art. The savage wandering through the
wide forest, without shelter for his head or raiment for
his back, knows no other wants than those of animal
appetites, and, when they are satisfied, seems to him-
self to have answered the only ends of existence. But
man, in society, feels numerous desires, and artificial
tastes spring up, accommodated to the various relations
in which he is placed, and perpetually stimulating his
invention to devise new expedients to gratify them.
There is a wide difference in the mechanical skill of
different nations ; but the difference is still greater in
the inventive power which directs this skill and makes
it available. Some nations seem to have no power
beyond that of imitation, or, if they possess invention,
have it in so low a degree that they are constantly
repeating the same idea, without a shadow of altera-
tion or improvement ; as the bird builds precisely the
(134)
AGRICULTURE. 135
same kind of nest which those of its own species built
at the beginning of the world. Such, for example,
are the Chinese, who have probably been familiar for
ages with the germs of some discoveries, of little
practical benefit to themselves, but which, under the
influence of European genius, have reached a degree
of excellence that has wrought an important change in
the constitution of society.
Far from looking back and forming itself slavishly
on the past, it is characteristic of the European intel-
lect to be ever on the advance. Old discoveries become
the basis of new ones. It passes onward from truth to
truth, connecting the whole by a succession of links,
as it were, into the great chain of science which is to
encircle and bind together the universe. The light of
learning is shed over the labors of art. New avenues
are opened for the communication both of person and
of thought. New facilities are devised for subsistence.
Personal comforts, of every kind, are inconceivably
multiplied, and brought within the reach of the poorest.
Secure of these, the thoughts travel into a nobler region
than that of the senses ; and the appliances of art are
made to minister to the demands of an elegant taste
and a higher moral culture.
The same enlightened spirit, applied to agriculture,
raises it from a mere mechanical drudgery, or the
barren formula of traditional precepts, to the dignity
of a science. As the composition of the earth is
analyzed, man learns the capacity of the soil that he
cultivates ; and, as his empire is gradually extended
over the elements of nature, he gains the power to
stimulate her to her most bountiful and various pro-
I3 6 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
duction. It is with satisfaction that we can turn to
the land of our fathers, as the one in which the experi-
ment has been conducted on the broadest scale and
attended with results that the world has neyer before
witnessed. With equal truth, we may point to the
Anglo-Saxon race in both hemispheres, as that whose
enterprising genius has contributed most essentially to
the great interests of humanity, by the application of
science to the useful arts.
Husbandry, to a very limited extent, indeed, was
practised by most of the rude tribes of North America.
Wherever a natural opening in the forest, or a rich
strip of interval, met their eyes, or a green slope was
found along the rivers, they planted it with beans and
Indian corn. 1 The cultivation was slovenly in the
extreme, and could not secure the improvident natives
from the frequent recurrence of desolating famines.
Still, that they tilled the soil at all was a peculiarity
which honorably distinguished them from other tribes
of hunters, and raised them one degree higher in the
scale of civilization.
Agriculture in Mexico was in the same advanced
state as the other arts of social life. In few countries,
indeed, has it been more respected. It was closely
interwoven with the civil and religious institutions of
the nation. There were peculiar deities to preside
1 This latter grain, according to Humboldt, was found by the Eu-
ropeans in the New World, from the South of Chili to Pennsylvania
(Essai politique, torn. ii. p 408); he might have added, to the St.
Lawrence. Our Puritan fathers found it in abundance on the New
England coast, wherever they landed. See Morton, New England's
Memorial (Boston, 1826), p. 68. — Gookin, Massachusetts Historical
Collections, chap. 3.
AGRICULTURE.
137
over it ; the names of the months and of the religious
festivals had more or less reference to it. The public
taxes, as we have seen, were often paid in agricultural
produce. All except the soldiers and great nobles,
even the inhabitants of the cities, cultivated the soil.
The work was chiefly done by the men ; the women
scattering the seed, husking the corn, and taking part
only in the lighter labors of the field. 2 In this they
presented an honorable contrast to the other tribes of
the continent, who imposed the burden of agriculture,
severe as it is in the North, on their women. 3 Indeed,
the sex was as tenderly regarded by the Aztecs in this
matter, as it is, in most parts of Europe, at the present
day.
There was no want of judgment in the management
of their ground. When somewhat exhausted, it was
permitted to recover by lying fallow. Its extreme
dryness was relieved by canals, with which the land
was partially irrigated ; and the same end was pro-
moted by severe penalties against the destruction of
3 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 31. — "Admirable ex-
ample for our times," exclaims the good father, " when women are
not only unfit for the labors of the field, but have too much levity to
attend to their own household !"
3 A striking contrast also to the Egyptians, with whom some antiqua-
ries are disposed to identify the ancient Mexicans. Sophocles notices
the effeminacy of the men in Egypt, who stayed at home tending the
loom, while their wives were employed in severe labors out of doors :
" T S2 izo.vt' eke'lvo) Tolg h> Alyvirrti) vofiotg
$vatv Karei-Kacr&evTS ical 8iov Tpo^df,
'Em yap oi f/h> upoeveg Kara ore-yog
QaKovaiv loTOvpyovvreg' ai 6e avvvouoi
TuJju Blov Tpo<j>ela Ttopavvova' aec."
Sophocl., OZdip. Col., v. 337-341.
12*
I3 8 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
the woods, with which the country, as already noticed,
was well covered before the Conquest. Lastly, they
provided for their harvests ample granaries, which
were admitted by the Conquerors to be of admirable
construction. In this provision we see the forecast of
civilized man. 4
Among the most important articles of husbandry,
we may notice the banana, Whose facility of cultivation
and exuberant returns are so fatal to habits of system-
atic and hardy industry. 5 Another celebrated plant
was the cacao, the fruit of which furnished the choco-
late, — from the Mexican chocolatl, — now so common a
beverage throughout Europe. 6 The vanilla, confined
to a small district of the sea-coast, was used for the
same purposes, of flavoring their food and drink, as
with us. 7 The great staple of the country, as, indeed,
of the American continent, was maize, or Indian corn,
which grew freely along the valleys, and up the steep
sides of the Cordilleras to the high level of the table-
4 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 32. — Clavigero, Stor.
del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 153-155. — "Jamas padecieron hambre,"says
the former writer, "sino en pocas ocasiones." If these famines were
rare, they were very distressing, however, and lasted very long. Comp.
Ixtiilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 41, 7i,jet alibi.
5 Oviedo considers the musa an imported plant ; and Hernandez,
in his copious catalogue, makes no mention of it at all. But Hum-
boldt, who has given much attention to it, concludes that, if some
species were brought into the country, others were indigenous. (Essai
politique, torn. ii. pp. 382-388.) If we may credit Clavigero, the
banana was the forbidden fruit that tempted our poor mother Eve !
Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p. 49, nota.
6 Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 306. — Her-
nandez, De Historia. Plantarum Novse Hispaniae (Matriti, 1790), lib. 6,
cap. 87.
i Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 8, cap. 13, et alibi.
AGRICULTURE. 139
land. The Aztecs were as curious in its preparation,
and as well instructed in its manifold uses, as the most
expert New England housewife. Its gigantic stalks,
in these equinoctial regions, afford a saccharine matter,
not found to the same extent in northern latitudes, and
supplied the natives with sugar little inferior to that of
the cane itself, which was not introduced among them
till after the Conquest. 8 But the miracle of nature
was the great Mexican aloe, or maguey, whose cluster-
ing pyramids of flowers, towering above their dark
coronals of leaves, were seen sprinkled over many a
broad acre of the table-land. As we have already
noticed, its bruised leaves afforded a paste from which
paper was manufactured ; 9 its juice was fermented into
an intoxicating beverage, pulque, of which the natives,
to this day, are excessively fond; 10 its leaves further
supplied an impenetrable thatch for the more humble
8 Carta del. Lie. Zuazo, MS. — He extols the honey of the maize, as
equal to that of bees. (Also Oviedo, Hist, natural de las Indias, cap.
4, ap. Barcia, torn, i.) Hernandez, who celebrates the manifold ways
in which the maize was prepared, derives it from the Haytian word
mahiz. Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 44, 45.
9 And is still, in one spot at least, San Angel, — three leagues from
the capital. Another mill was to have been established, a few years
since, in Puebla. Whether this has actually been done, I am igno-
rant. See the Report of the Committee on Agriculture to the Senate
of the United States, March 12, 1838.
10 Before the Revolution, the duties on the pulque formed so im-
portant a branch of revenue that the cities of Mexico, Puebla, and
Toluca alone paid $817,739 t0 government. (Humboldt, Essai poli-
tique, torn. ii. p. 47.) It requires time to reconcile Europeans to the
peculiar flavor of this liquor, on the merits of which they are conse-
quently much divided. There is but one opinion among the natives.
The English reader will find a good account of its manufacture in
Ward's Mexico, vol. ii. pp. 55-60.
140
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
dwellings ; thread, of which coarse stuffs were made,
and strong cords, were drawn from its tough and twisted
fibres; pins and needles were made of the thorns at
the extremity of its leaves ; and the root, when prop-
erly cooked, was converted into a palatable and nutri-
tious food. The agave, in short, was meat, drink,
clothing, and writing-materials, for the Aztec ! Surely,
never did Nature enclose in so compact a form so many
of the elements of human comfort and civilization ! "
It would be obviously out of place to enumerate in
these pages all the varieties of plants, many of them
of medicinal virtue, which have been introduced from
Mexico into Europe. Still less can I attempt a cata-
logue of its flowers, which, with their variegated and
11 Hernandez enumerates the several species of the maguey, which
are turned to these manifold uses, in his learned work, De Hist. Plan-
tarum. (Lib. 7, cap. 71, et seq.) M. de Humboldt considers them
all varieties of the agave Americana, familiar in the southern parts
both of the United States and Europe. (Essai politique, torn. ii. p.
487, et seq.) This opinion has brought on him a rather sour rebuke
from our countryman the late Dr. Perrine, who pronounces them a
distinct species from the American agave, and regards one of the
kinds, the pita, from which the fine thread is obtained, as a totally dis-
tinct genus. (See the Report of the Committee on Agriculture.) Yet
the Baron may find authority for all the properties ascribed by him to
the maguey, in the most accredited writers who have resided more or
less time in Mexico. See, among others, Hernandez, ubi supra. —
Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 9, cap. 2; lib. 11, cap. 7. —
Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 19. — Carta del Lie.
Zuazo, MS. The last, speaking of the maguey, which produces the
fermented drink, says expressly, " With what remain of these leaves
they manufacture excellent and very fine cloth, resembling holland,
or the finest linen." It cannot be denied, however, that Dr. Perrine
shows himself intimately acquainted with the structure and habits of
the tropical plants, which, with such patriotic spirit, he proposed to
introduce into Florida.
MINERALS.
141
gaudy colors, form the greatest attraction of our green-
houses. The opposite climates embraced within the
narrow latitudes of New Spain have given to it, prob-
ably, the richest and most diversified flora to be found
in any country on the globe. These different products
were systematically arranged by the Aztecs, who under-
stood their properties, and collected them into nurse-
ries, more extensive than any then existing in the Old
World. It is not improbable that they suggested the
idea of those "gardens of plants" which were intro-
duced into Europe not many years after the Conquest."
The Mexicans were as well acquainted with the min-
eral as with the vegetable treasures of their kingdom.
Silver, lead, and tin they drew from the mines of
Tasco ; copper from the mountains of Zacotollan.
These were taken not only from the crude masses on
the surface, but from veins wrought in the solid rock,
into which they opened extensive galleries. In fact,
the traces of their labors furnished the best indications
for the early Spanish miners.* 3 Gold, found on the
surface, or gleaned from the beds of rivers, was cast
12 The first regular establishment of this kind, according to Carli,
was at Padua, in 1545. Lettres Americaines, torn. i. chap. 21.
*3 [Though I have conformed to the views of Humboldt in regard
to the knowledge of mining possessed by the ancient Mexicans,
Sen or Ramirez thinks the conclusions to which I have been led are
not warranted by the ancient writers. From the language of Bernal
Diaz and of Sahagun, in particular, he infers that their only means
of obtaining the precious metals was by gathering such detached
masses as were found on the surface of the ground or in the beds of
the rivers. The small amount of silver in their possession he regards
as an additional proof of their ignorance of the proper method and
their want of the requisite tools for extracting it from the earth. See
Ramirez, Notas y Esclarecimientos, p. 73.]
1 42 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
into bars, or, in the form of dust, made part of the
regular tribute of the southern provinces of the empire.
The use of iron, with which the soil was impreg-
nated, was unknown to them. Notwithstanding its
abundance, it demands so many processes to prepare
it for use that it has commonly been one of the last
metals pressed into the service of man. The age of
iron has followed that of brass, in fact as well as in
fiction. 14
They found a substitute in an alloy of tin and copper,
and, with tools made of this bronze, could cut not
only metals, but, with the aid of a silicious dust, the
hardest substances, as basalt, porphyry, amethysts, and
emeralds. 15 They fashioned these last, which were
found very large, into many curious and fantastic
forms. They cast, also, vessels of gold and silver,
carving them with their metallic chisels in a very
M P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, Decades (Compluti, 1530), dec. 5, p.
191. — Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 3. — Humboldt, Essai politique, torn. iii. pp.
114-125. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 34.
" Men wrought in brass," says Hesiod, " when iron did not exist."
Xa^JCiS S kpyuljivTo' jiiXag cT ova soke aidrjpog.
Hesiod, "Epya. sat 'H/u-epot.
The Abbe Raynal contends that the ignorance of iron must necessa-
rily have kept the Mexicans in a low state of civilization, since without
it "they could have produced no work in metal, worth looking at,
no masonry nor architecture, engraving nor sculpture." (History of
the Indies, Eng. trans., vol. iii. b. 6.) Iron, however, if known, was
little used by the ancient Egyptians, whose mighty monuments were
hewn with bronze tools ; while their weapons and domestic utensils
were of the same material, as appears from the green color given to
them in their paintings.
J 5 Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 25-29. — Torquemada, Monarch.
Ind., ubi supra.
MECHANICAL ARTS.
143
delicate manner. Some of the silver vases were so
large that a man could not encircle them with his
arms. They imitated very nicely the figures of animals,
and, what was extraordinary, could mix the metals in
such a manner that the feathers of a bird, or the scales
of a fish, should be alternately of gold and silver. The
Spanish goldsmiths admitted their superiority over
themselves in these ingenious works. 16
They employed another tool, made of itztli, or
obsidian, a dark transparent mineral, exceedingly hard,
found in abundance in their hills. They made it into
knives, razors, and their serrated swords. It took a
keen edge, though soon blunted. With this they
wrought the various stones and alabasters employed in
the construction of their public works and principal
dwellings. I shall defer a more particular account of
these to the body of the narrative, and will only add
here that the entrances and angles of the buildings were
profusely ornamented with images, sometimes of their
fantastic deities, and frequently of animals. 17 The latter
were executed with great accuracy. ''The former,"
16 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 9, cap. 15-17. — Boturini,
Idea, p. tj. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., loc. cit. — Herrera, who
says they could also enamel, commends the skill of the Mexican gold-
smiths in making birds and animals with movable wings and limbs, in
a most curious fashion. (Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 15.) Sir
John Maundeville, as usual,
" with his hair on end
At his own wonders,"
notices the " gret marvayle" of similar pieces of mechanism at the
court of the grand Chane of Cathay. See his Voiage and Travaile,
chap. 20.
*7 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 11. — Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 34. — Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 27, 28.
144 AZTEC CIVILIZATION:
according to Torquemada, "were the hideous reflection
of their own souls. And it was not till after they had
been converted to Christianity that they could model
the true figure of a man."' 8 The old chronicler's facts
are well founded, whatever we may think of his reasons.
The allegorical phantasms of his religion, no doubt,
gave a direction to the Aztec artist, in his delineation
of the human figure ; supplying him with an imaginary
beauty in the personification of divinity itself. As
these superstitions lost their hold on his mind, it opened
to the influences of a purer taste ; and, after the Con-
quest, the Mexicans furnished many examples of correct,
and some of beautiful, portraiture.
Sculptured images were so numerous that the founda-
tions of the cathedral in the plaza mayor, the great
square of Mexico, are said to be entirely composed of
them. 19 This spot may, indeed, be regarded as the
Aztec forum, — the great depository of the treasures of
ancient sculpture, which now lie hid in its bosom.
Such monuments are spread all over the capital, how-
ever, and a new cellar can hardly be dug, or founda-
tion laid, without turning up some of the mouldering
relics of barbaric art. But they are little heeded, and,
if not wantonly broken in pieces at once, are usually
worked into the rising wall or supports of the new
edifice. 20 Two celebrated bas-reliefs of the last Mon-
18 « Parece, que permitia Dios, que la figura de sus cuerpos se
asimilase a la que tenian sus almas porel pecado, en que siempre per-
manecian." Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 34.
»9 Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p. 195.
20 Gama, Descripcion, Parte 1, p. 1. Besides the plaza mayor, Gama
points out the Square of Tlatelolco, as a great cemetery of ancient
relics. It was the quarter to which the Mexicans retreated, on the
siege of the capital.
MECHANICAL ARTS.
*45
tezuma and his father, cut in the solid rock, in the
beautiful groves of Chapoltepec, were deliberately de-
stroyed, as late as the last century, by order of the
government ! 2I The monuments of the barbarian meet
with as little respect from civilized man as those of the
civilized man from the barbarian. 2 *
The most remarkable piece of sculpture yet disin-
terred is the great calendar-stone, noticed in the pre-
ceding chapter. It consists of dark porphyry, and in
its original dimensions, as taken from the quarry, is
computed to have weighed nearly fifty tons. It was
transported from the mountains beyond Lake Chalco,
a distance of many leagues, over a broken country in-
teisected by water-courses and canals. In crossing a
bridge which traversed one of these latter, in the capi-
tal, the supports gave way, and the huge mass was
precipitated into the water, whence it was with diffi-
culty recovered. The fact that so enormous a fragment
of porphyry could be thus safely carried for leagues, in
the face of such obstacles, and without the aid of cattle,
— for the Aztecs, as already mentioned, had no animals
of draught, — suggests to us no mean ideas of their
mechanical skill and of their machinery, and implies a
degiee of cultivation little inferior to that demanded
31 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 34. — Gama, Descrip-
tion, Parte 2, pp. 81-83. — These statues are repeatedly noticed by the
old writers. The last was destroyed in 1754, when it was seen by
Gama, who highly commends the execution of it. Ibid.
22 This wantonness of destruction provokes the bitter animadversion
of Martyr, whose enlightened mind respected the vestiges of civiliza-
tion wherever found. "The conquerors," he says, "seldom repaired
the buildings that were defaced. They would rather sack twenty
stately cities than erect one good edifice." De Orbe Novo, dec. 5,
cap. 10.
Vol. I. — G 13
146 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
for the geometrical and astronomical science displayed
in the inscriptions on this very stone. 23
The ancient Mexicans made utensils of earthen-ware
for the ordinary purposes of domestic life, numerous
specimens of which still exist. 24 They made cups and
vases of a lackered or painted wood, impervious to wet
and gaudily colored. Their dyes were obtained from
both mineral and vegetable substances. Among them
was the rich crimson of the cochineal, the modern rival
of the famed Tyrian purple. It was introduced into
Europe from Mexico, where the curious little insect
was nourished with great care on plantations of cactus,
since fallen into neglect. 23 The natives were thus
enabled to give a brilliant coloring to the webs which
were manufactured, of every degree of fineness, from
the cotton raised in abundance throughout the warmer
regions of the country. They had the art, also, of
interweaving with these the delicate hair of rabbits and
other animals, which made a cloth of great warmth as
s 3 Gama, Description, Parte I, pp. 110-114. — Humboldt, Essai
politique, torn. ii. p. 40. — Ten thousand men were employed in the
transportation of this enormous mass, according to Tezozomoc, whose
narrative, with all the accompanying prodigies, is minutely trans-
scribed by Bustamante. The Licentiate shows an appetite for the
marvellous which might excite the envy of a monk of the Middle
Ages. (See Descripcion, nota, loc. cit.) The English traveller La-
trobe accommodates the wonders of nature and art very well to each
other, by suggesting that these great masses of stone were transported
by means of the mastodon, whose remains are occasionally disinterred
in the Mexican Valley. Rambler in Mexico, p. 145.
=4 A great collection of ancient pottery, with various other specimens
of Aztec art, the gift of Messrs. Poinsett and Keating,, is deposited in
the Cabinet of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia.
See the Catalogue, ap. Transactions, vol. iii. p. 510.
2 S Hernandez, Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 116.
MECHANICAL ARTS.
147
well as beauty, of a kind altogether original ; and on
this they often laid a rich embroidery, of birds, flowers,
or some other fanciful device. 26
But the art in which they most delighted was their
plumaje, or feather-work. With this they could pro-
duce all the effect of a beautiful mosaic. The gorgeous
plumage of the tropical birds, especially of the parrot
tribe, afforded every variety of color; and the fine
down of the humming-bird, which revelled in swarms
among the honeysuckle bowers of Mexico, supplied
them with soft aerial tints that gave an exquisite finish
to the picture. The feathers, pasted on a fine cotton
web, were wrought into dresses for the wealthy, hang-
ings for apartments, and ornaments for the temples.
No one of the American fabrics excited such admira-
tion in Europe, whither numerous specimens were sent
by the Conquerors. It is to be regretted that so graceful
an art should have been suffered to fall into decay. 27
26 Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 7,
cap. 15. — Boturini, Idea, p. 77. — It is doubtful how far they were
acquainted with the manufacture of silk. Carli supposes that what
Cortes calls silk was only the fine texture of hair, or down, mentioned
in the text. (Lettres Americaines, torn, i. let. 21.) But it is certain
they had a species of caterpillar, unlike our silkworm, indeed, which
spun a thread that was sold in the markets of ancient Mexico. See
the Essai politique (torn. iii. pp. 66-69), where M. de Humboldt has
collected some interesting facts in regard to the culture of silk by the
Aztecs. Still, that the fabric should be a matter of uncertainty at all
shows that it could not have reached any great excellence or extent.
»7 Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS. — Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 37. — Sahagun,
Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 9, cap. 18-21. — Toribio, Hist, de los In-
dios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 15. — Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio,
torn. iii. fol. 306. — Count Carli is in raptures with a specimen of feather-
painting which he saw in Strasbourg. " Never did I behold anything
so exquisite," he says, " for brilliancy and nice gradation of color, and
I 4 8 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
There were no shops in Mexico, but the various
manufactures and agricultural products were brought
together for sale in the great market-places of the prin-
cipal cities. Fairs were held there every fifth day,
and were thronged by a numerous concourse of per-
sons, who came to buy or sell from all the neighboring
country. A particular quarter was allotted to each
kind of article. The numerous transactions were con-
ducted without confusion, and with entire regard to
justice, under the inspection of magistrates appointed
for the purpose. The traffic was carried on partly by
barter, and partly by means of a regulated currency,
of different values. This consisted of transparent quills
of gold dust ; of bits of tin, cut in the form of a J;
and of bags of cacao, containing a specified number
of grains. " Blessed money," exclaims Peter Martyr,
"which exempts its possessors from avarice, since it
cannot be long hoarded, nor hidden under ground !" 28
There did not exist in Mexico that distinction of
castes found among the Egyptian and Asiatic nations.
for beauty of design. No European artist could have made such a
thing." (Lettres Americaines, let. 21, note.) There is still one place,
Patzquaro, where, according to Bustamante, they preserve some knowl-
edge of this interesting art, though it is practised on a very limited
scale and at great cost. Sahagun, ubi supra, nota.
28 " O felicem monetam, quae suavem utilemque praebet humano
generi potum, et a tartarea, peste avaritias suos immunes servat pos-
sessores, quod suffodi aut diu servari nequeat !" De Orbe Novo, dec.
5, cap. 4. — (See, also, Carta de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 100, et seq.
— Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 8, cap. 36. — Toribio, Hist, de
los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8. — Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS.) The
substitute for money throughout the Chinese empire was equally simple
in Marco Polo's time, consisting of bits of stamped paper, made from
the inner bark of the mulberry-tree. See Viaggi di Messer Marco
Polo, gentil' huomo Venetiano, lib. 2, cap. 18, ap. Ramusio, torn. ii.
MERCHANTS.
149
It was usual, however, for the son to follow the occupa-
tion of his father. The different trades were arranged
into something like guilds; each having a particular
district of the city appropriated to it, with its own
chief, its own tutelar deity, its peculiar festivals, and
the like. Trade was held in avowed estimation by
the Aztecs. "Apply thyself, my son," was the ad-
vice of an aged chief, " to agriculture, or to feather-
work, or some other honorable calling. Thus did
your ancestors before you. Else how would they have
provided for themselves and their families? Never
was it heard that nobility alone was able to maintain
its possessor. ' ' ** Shrewd maxims, that must have
sounded somewhat strange in the ear of a Spanish
hidalgo / 3 °
But the occupation peculiarly respected was that of
the merchant. It formed so important and singular a
feature of their social economy as to merit a much
more particular notice than it has received from his-
torians. The Aztec merchant was a sort of itinerant
trader, who made his journeys to the remotest borders
of Anahuac, and to the countries beyond, carrying
with him merchandise of rich stuffs, jewelry, slaves,
and other valuable commodities. The slaves were
obtained at the great market of Azcapozalco, not many
leagues from the capital, where fairs were regularly
=9 " Procurad de saber algun oficio honroso, como es el hacer obras
de pluma y otros oficios mecanicos. . . . Mirad que tengais cuidado
de lo tocante & la agricultura. . . . En ninguna parte he visto que
alguno se mantenga por su nobleza," Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-
Espafia, lib. 6, cap. 17.
30 Col. de Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. PI. 71 ; vol. vi. p.
86. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 41.
13*
150 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
held for the sale of these unfortunate beings. They
were brought thither by their masters, dressed in their
gayest apparel, and instructed to sing, dance, and dis-
play their little stock of personal accomplishments, so
as to recommend themselves to the purchaser. Slave-
dealing was an honorable calling among the Aztecs. 31
With this rich freight, the merchant visited the dif-
ferent provinces, always bearing some present of value
from his own sovereign to their chiefs, and usually
receiving others in return, with a permission to trade.
Should this be denied him, or should he meet with
indignity or violence, he had the means of resistance
in his power. He performed his journeys with a num-
ber of companions of his own rank, and a large body
of inferior attendants who were employed to transport
the goods. Fifty or sixty pounds were the usual load
for a man. The whole caravan went armed, and so
well provided against sudden hostilities that they could
make good their defence, if necessary, till reinforced
from home. In one instance, a body of these militant
traders stood a siege of four years in the town of Ayot-
lan, which they finally took from the enemy. 32 Their
own government, however, was always prompt to em-
bark in a war on this ground, finding it a very conve-
nient pretext for extending the Mexican empire. It
was not unusual to allow the merchants to raise levies
themselves, which were placed under their command.
It was, moreover, very common for the prince to em-
ploy the merchants as a sort of spies, to furnish him
information of the state of the countries through which
31 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 9, cap. 4, 10-14.
3* Ibid., lib. 9, cap. 2.
MERCHANTS. 1 5 1
they passed, and the dispositions of the inhabitants
towards himself. 33
Thus their sphere of action was much enlarged be-
yond that of a humble trader, and they acquired a high
consideration in the body politic. They were allowed
to assume insignia and devices of their own. Some
of their number composed what is called by the Span-
ish writers a council of finance ; at least, this was the
case in Tezcuco. 34 They were much consulted by the
monarch, who had some of them constantly near his
person, addressing them by the title of " uncle," which
may remind one of that of primo, or "cousin/' by
which a grandee of Spain is saluted by his sovereign.
They were allowed to have their own courts, in which
civil and criminal cases, not excepting capital, were
determined ; so that they formed an independent com-
munity, as it were, of themselves. And, as their va-
rious traffic supplied them with abundant stores of
wealth, they enjoyed many of the most essential ad-
vantages of an hereditary aristocracy. 3S
33 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 9, cap. 2, 4. — In the Men-
doza Codex is a painting representing the execution of a cacique and
his family, with the destruction of his city, for maltreating the persons
of some Aztec merchants. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. PI. 67.
34 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 41. — Ixtlilxochitl gives
a curious story of one of the royal family of Tezcuco, who offered,
with two other merchants, otros mercaderes, to visit the court of a
hostile cacique and bring him dead or alive to the capital. They
availed themselves of a drunken revel, at which they were to have
been sacrificed, to effect their object. Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 62.
35 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 9, cap. 2, 5. — The ninth
book is taken up with an account of the merchants, their pilgrimages,
the religious rites on their departure, and the sumptuous way of living
on their return. The whole presents a very remaikable picture, show-
I 5 2
AZTEC CIVILIZATION
That trade should prove the path to eminent political
preferment in a nation but partially civilized, where
the names of soldier and priest are usually the only
titles to respect, is certainly an anomaly in history.
It forms some contrast to the standard of the more
polished monarchies of the Old World, in which rank
is supposed to be less dishonored by a life of idle ease
or frivolous pleasure than by those active pursuits which
promote equally the prosperity of the state and of the
individual. If civilization corrects many prejudices,
it must be allowed that it creates others.
We shall be able to form a better idea of the actual
refinement of the natives by penetrating into their
domestic life and observing the intercourse between
the sexes. We have, fortunately, the means of doing
this. We shall there find the ferocious Aztec frequently
displaying all the sensibility of a cultivated nature;
consoling his friends under affliction, or congratulating
them on their good fortune, as on occasion of a mar-
riage, or of the birth or the baptism of a child, when
he was punctilious in his visits, bringing presents of
costly dresses and ornaments, or the more simple offer-
ing of flowers, equally indicative of his sympathy.
The visits at these times, though regulated with all the
precision of Oriental courtesy, were accompanied by
expressions of the most cordial and affectionate regard. 36
ing they enjoyed a consideration, among the half-civilized nations of
Anahuac, to which there is no parallel, unless it be that possessed by
the merchant-princes of an Italian republic, or the princely merchants
of our own.
3 6 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 6, cap. 23-37. — Camargo,
Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — These complimentary attentions were paid at
stated seasons, even during pregnancy. The details are given with
DOMESTIC MANNERS.
153
The discipline of children, especially at the public
schools, as stated in a previous chapter, was exceed-
ingly severe. 37 But after she had come to a mature
age the Aztec maiden was treated by her parents with
a tenderness from which all reserve seemed banished.
In the counsels to a daughter about to enter into life,
they conjured her to preserve simplicity in her manners
and conversation, uniform neatness in her attire, with
strict attention to personal cleanliness. They incul-
cated modesty, as the great ornament of a woman, and
implicit reverence for her husband; softening their
admonitions by such endearing epithets as showed the
fulness of a parent's love. 38
abundant gravity and minuteness by Sahagun, who descends to par-
ticulars which his Mexican editor, Bustamante, has excluded, as some-
what too unreserved for the public eye. If they were more so than
some of the editor's own notes, they must have been very communi-
cative indeed.
37 Zurita, Rapport, pp. 112-134. — The Third Part of the Col. de
Mendoza (Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i.) exhibits the various ingenious
punishments devised for the refractory child. The flowery path of
knowledge was well strewed with thorns for the Mexican tyro.
3 8 Zurita, Rapport, pp. 151-160. — Sahagun has given us the admo-
nitions of both father and mother to the Aztec maiden on her coming
to years of discretion. What can be more tender than the beginning
of the mother's exhortation? " Hija mia muy amada, muy querida
palomita : ya has oido y notado las palabras que tu senor padre te ha
dicho ; ellas son palabras preciosas, y que raramente se dicen ni se
oyen, las quales han procedido de las entranas y corazon en que
estaban atesoradas ; y tu muy amado padre bien sabe que eres su
hija, engendrada de el, eres su sangre y su carne, y sabe Dios nuestro
senor que es asi ; aunque eres muger, e imdgen de tu padre 1 que mas
te puedo decir, hija mia, de lo que ya esta dicho?" (Hist, de Nueva-
Espafia, lib. 6, cap. 19.) The reader will find this interesting docu-
ment, which enjoins so much of what is deemed most essential among
civilized nations, translated entire in the Appendix, Part 2, No. I.
154
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Polygamy was permitted among the Mexicans, though
chiefly confined, probably, to the wealthiest classes. 39
And the obligations of the married vow, which was
made with all the formality of a religious ceremony,
were fully recognized, and impressed on both parties.
The women are described by the Spaniards as pretty,
unlike their unfortunate descendants of the present
day, though with the same serious and rather melan-
choly cast of countenance. Their long black hair,
covered, in some parts of the country, by a veil made
of the fine web of the pita, might generally be seen
wreathed with flowers, or, among the richer people,
with strings of precious stones, and pearls from the
Gulf of California. They appear to have been treated
with much consideration by their husbands, and passed
their time in indolent tranquillity, or in such feminine
occupations as spinning, embroidery, and the like,
while their maidens beguiled the hours by the rehearsal
of traditionary tales and ballads. 40
The women partook equally with the men of social
festivities and entertainments. These were often con-
ducted on a large scale, both as regards the number of
guests and the costliness of the preparations. Numer-
ous attendants, of both sexes, waited at the banquet.
39 Yet we find the remarkable declaration, in the counsels of a father
to his son, that, for the multiplication of the species, God ordained
one man only for one woman. " Nota, hijo mio, lo que te digo, mira
que el mundo ya tiene este estilo de engendrar y multiplicar, y para
esta generacion y multiplicacion, ordeno Dios que una muger usase
de un varon, y un varon de una muger." Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-
Espafia, lib. 6, cap. si.
#> Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 21-23 '< W 5 - 8, cap. 23. — Rel. d'un gentil' huomo,
ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 305. — Carta del Lie. Zuazo, MS.
DOMESTIC MANNERS.
155
The halls were scented with perfumes, and the courts
strewed with odoriferous herbs and flowers, which were
distributed in profusion among the guests, as they
arrived. Cotton napkins and ewers of water were
placed before them, as they took their seats at the
board; for the venerable ceremony of ablution 41 be-
fore and after eating was punctiliously observed by the
Aztecs. 42 Tobacco was then offered to the company,
in pipes, mixed up with aromatic substances, or in the
form of cigars, inserted in tubes of tortoise-shell or
silver. They compressed the nostrils with the fingers,
while they inhaled the smoke, which they frequently
4* As old as the heroic age of Greece, at least. We may fancy
ourselves at the table of Penelope, where water in golden ewers was
poured into silver basins for the accommodation of her guests, before
beginning the repast :
" Xepvcj3a 6' ufKp'nToTiog npoxou) kitfx^s <(>spovaa
KaXrj, xp^OELi), imep apyvpeow ?Jj3T]Tog,
Nfyaatfat • napa de §eoT7jv havvaae TpaTvefcv."
OAY22. A.
The feast affords many other points of analogy to the Aztec, inferring
a similar stage of civilization in the two nations. One may be sur-
prised, however, to find a greater profusion of the precious metals in
the barren isle of Ithaca than in Mexico. But the poet's fancy was a
richer mine than either.
4= Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 6, cap. 22. — Amidst some
excellent advice of a parent to his son, on his general deportment,
we find the latter punctiliously enjoined not to take his seat at the
board till he has washed his face and hands, and not to leave it till he
has repeated the same thing, and cleansed his teeth. The directions
are given with a precision worthy of an Asiatic. " Al principio de la
comida labarte has las manos y la boca, y donde te juntares con otros
a comer, no te sientes luego ; mas antes tomaras el agua y la jicara
para que se laben los otros, y echarles has agua a los manos, y despues
de esto, cojeras lo que se ha caido por el suelo y barreras el lugar de
la comida, y tambien despues de comer lavards te las manos y la boca,
y limpiar&s los dientes." Ibid., loc. cit.
156 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
swallowed. Whether the women, who sat apart from
the men at table, were allowed the indulgence of the
fragrant weed, as in the most polished circles of modern
Mexico, is not told us. It is a curious fact that the
Aztecs also took the dried leaf in the pulverized form
of snuff. 43
The table was well provided with substantial meats,
especially game ; among which the most conspicuous
was the turkey, erroneously supposed, as its name im-
ports, to have come originally from the East. 44 These
+3 Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 306. —
Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 4, cap. 37. — Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23. — Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn,
ii. p. 227. — The Aztecs used to smoke after dinner, to prepare for the
siesta, in which they indulged themselves as regularly as an old Cas-
tilian. — Tobacco, in Mexican yetl, is derived from a Haytian word,
tabaco. The natives of Hispaniola, being the first with whom the
Spaniards had much intercourse, have supplied Europe with the names
of several important plants. — Tobacco, in some form or other, was
used by almost all the tribes of the American continent, from the
Northwest Coast to Patagonia. (See McCulloh, Researches, pp. 91-
94.) Its manifold virtues, both social and medicinal, are profusely
panegyrized by Hernandez, in his Hist. Plantarum, lib. 2, cap. 109.
44 This noble bird was introduced into Europe from Mexico. The
Spaniards called it gallopavo, from its resemblance to the peacock.
See Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio (torn. iii. fol. 306) ; also
Oviedo (Rel. Sumaria, cap. 38), the earliest naturalist who gives an
account of the bird, which he saw soon after the Conquest, in the
West Indies, whither it had been brought, as he says, from New Spain.
The Europeans, however, soon lost sight of its origin, and the name
" turkey" intimated the popular belief of its Eastern origin. Several
eminent writers have maintained its Asiatic or African descent ; but
they could not impose on the sagacious and better-instructed Buffon.
(See Histoire naturelle, art. Dindon.) The Spaniards saw immense
numbers of turkeys in the domesticated state, on their arrival in
Mexico, where they were more common than any other poultry.
They were found wild, not only in New Spain, but all along the con-
DOMESTIC MANNERS. 157
more solid dishes were flanked by others of vegetables
and fruits, of every delicious variety found on the
North American continent. The different viands were
prepared in various ways, with delicate sauces and sea-
soning, of which the Mexicans were very fond. Their
palate was still further regaled by confections and pas-
try, for which their maize-flour and sugar supplied
ample materials. One other dish, of a disgusting
nature, was sometimes added to the feast, especially
when the celebration partook of a religious character.
On such occasions a slave was sacrificed, and his flesh,
elaborately dressed, formed one of the chief ornaments
of the banquet. Cannibalism, in the guise of an
Epicurean science, becomes even the more revolting. 43
The meats were kept warm by chafing-dishes. The
table was ornamented with vases of silver, and some-
times gold, of delicate workmanship. The drinking-
cups and spoons were of the same costly materials, and
likewise of tortoise-shell. The favorite beverage was
the chocolatl, flavored with vanilla and different spices.
tinent, in the less frequented places, from the Northwestern territory
of the United States to Panama. The wild turkey is larger, more
beautiful, and every way an incomparably finer bird than the tame.
Franklin, with some point, as well as pleasantry, insists on its prefer-
ence to the bald eagle as the national emblem. (See his Works, vol.
x. p. 63, in Sparks's excellent edition.) Interesting notices of the
history and habits of the wild turkey may be found in the Ornithology
both of Buonaparte and of that enthusiastic lover of nature, Audubon,
vox Meleagris, Gallopavo.
45 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 4, cap. 37 ; lib. 8, cap. 13 ;
lib. 9, cap. 10-14. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23. —
Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 306. — Father Sa-
hagun has gone into many particulars of the Aztec cuisine, and the
mode of preparing sundry savory messes, making, all together, no
despicable contribution to the noble science of gastronomy.
Vol. I. 14
158 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
They had a way of preparing the froth of it, so as to
make it almost solid enough to be eaten, and took it
cold. 46 The fermented juice of the maguey, with
a mixture of sweets and acids, supplied, also, various
agreeable drinks, of different degrees of strength, and
formed the chief beverage of the elder part of the
company. 47
As soon as they had finished their repast, the young
people rose from the table, to close the festivities of
the day with dancing. They danced gracefully, to
the sound of various instruments, accompanying their
movements with chants of a pleasing though somewhat
plaintive character. 48 The older guests continued at
4 s The froth, delicately flavored with spices and some other ingre-
dients, was taken cold by itself. It had the consistency almost of a
solid ; and the " Anonymous Conqueror" is very careful to inculcate
the importance of " opening the mouth wide, in order to facilitate
deglutition, that the foam may dissolve gradually, and descend imper-
ceptibly, as it were, into the stomach." It was so nutritious that a
single cup of it was enough to sustain a man through the longest day's
march. (Fol. 306.) The old soldier discusses the beverage con amore.
47 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, lib. 4, cap. 37 ; lib. 8, cap. 13.
— Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23. — Rel. d'un gentil'
huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 306.
48 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 8. — Torquemada, Mo-
narch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 11. — The Mexican nobles entertained minstrels
in their houses, who composed ballads suited to the times, or the
achievements of their lord, which they chanted, to the accompaniment
of instruments, at the festivals and dances. Indeed, there was more
or less dancing at most of the festivals, and it was performed in the
court-yards of the houses, or in the open squares of the city. (Ibid.,
ubi supra.) The principal men had, also, buffoons and jugglers in
their service, who amused them and astonished the Spaniards by their
feats of dexterity and strength (Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 28 ; also Clavi-
gero (Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. pp. 179-186), who has designed sev-
eral representations of their exploits, truly surprising.) It is natural
DOMESTIC MANNERS.
159
table, sipping pulque, and gossiping about other times,
till the virtues of the exhilarating beverage put them
in good humor with their own. Intoxication was not
rare in this part of the company, and, what is singular,
was excused in them, though severely punished in the
younger. The entertainment was concluded by a lib-
eral distribution of rich dresses and ornaments among
the guests, when they withdrew, after midnight, "some
commending the feast, and others condemning the bad
taste or extravagance of their host ; in the same man-
ner," says an old Spanish writer, "as with us." 49
Human nature is, indeed, much the same all the world
over.
In this remarkable picture of manners, which I have
copied faithfully from the records of earliest date after
the Conquest, we find no resemblance to the other
races of North American Indians. Some resemblance
we may trace to the general style of Asiatic pomp and
luxury. But in Asia, woman, far from being admitted
to unreserved intercourse with the other sex, is too
often jealously immured within the walls of the harem.
European civilization, which accords to this loveliest
portion of creation her proper rank in the social scale,
is still more removed from some of the brutish usages
that a people of limited refinement should find their enjoyment in
material rather than intellectual pleasures, and, consequently, should
excel in them. The Asiatic nations, as the Hindoos and Chinese, for
example, surpass the more polished Europeans in displays of agility
and legerdemain.
49 " Y de esta manera pasaban gran rato de la noche, y se despe-
dian, e iban a sus casas, unos alabando la fiesta, y otros murmurando
de las demasias y excesos, cosa mui ordinaria en los que a seme-
jantes actos se juntan." Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap.
23. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 9, cap. 10-14.
160 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
of the Aztecs. That such usages should have existed
with the degree of refinement they showed in other
things is almost inconceivable. It can only be ex-
plained as the result of religious superstition ; super-
stition which clouds the moral perception, and perverts
even the natural senses, till man, civilized man, is rec-
onciled to the very things which are most revolting to
humanity. Habits and opinions founded on religion
must not be taken as conclusive evidence of the actual
refinement of a people.
The Aztec character was perfectly original and
unique. It was made up of incongruities apparently
irreconcilable. It blended into one the marked pecu-
liarities of different nations, not only of the same
phase of civilization, but as far removed from each
other as the extremes of barbarism and refinement.
It may find a fitting parallel in their own wonderful
climate, capable of producing, on a few square leagues
of surface, the boundless variety of vegetable forms
which belong to the frozen regions of the North, the
temperate zone of Europe, and the burning skies of
Arabia and Hindostan.
One of the works repeatedly consulted and referred to in this Intro-
duction is Boturini's Idea de una nueva Historia general de la America
Septentrional. The singular persecutions sustained by its author, even
more than the merits of his book, have associated his name insepa-
rably with the literary history of Mexico. The Chevalier Lorenzo
Boturini Benaduci was a Milanese by birth, of an ancient family, and
possessed of much learning. From Madrid, where he was residing, he
passed over to New Spain, in 1735, on some business of the Countess
of Santibanez, a lineal descendant of Montezuma. While employed
on this, he visited the celebrated shrine of Our Lady of Guadaloupe,
BOTURINI. 161
and, being a person of devout and enthusiastic temper, was filled with
the desire of collecting testimony to establish the marvellous fact of
her apparition. In the course of his excursions, made with this view,
he fell in with many relics of Aztec antiquity, and conceived — what
to a Protestant, at least, would seem much more rational — the idea
of gathering together all the memorials he could meet with of the
primitive civilization of the land.
In pursuit of this double object, he penetrated into the remotest
parts of the country, living much with the natives, passing his nights
sometimes in their huts, sometimes in caves and the depths of the
lonely forests. Frequently months would elapse without his being
able to add anything to his collection ; for the Indians had suffered
too much not to be very shy of Europeans. His long intercourse
with them, however, gave him ample opportunity to learn their lan-
guage and popular traditions, and, in the end, to amass a large stock
of materials, consisting of hieroglyphical charts on cotton, skins, and
the fibre of the maguey; besides a considerable body of Indian man-
uscripts, written after the Conquest. To all these must be added the
precious documents for placing beyond controversy the miraculous
apparition of the Virgin. With this treasure he returned, after a
pilgrimage of eight years, to the capital.
His zeal, in the mean while, had induced him to procure from Rome
a bull authorizing the coronation of the sacred image at Guadaloupe.
The bull, however, though sanctioned by the Audience of New Spain,
had never been approved by the Council of the Indies. In conse-
quence of this informality, Boturini was arrested in the midst of his
proceedings, his papers were taken from him, and, as he declined to
give an inventory of them, he was thrown into prison, and confined
in the same apartment with two criminals I Not long afterward he
was sent to Spain. He there presented a memorial to the Council of
the Indies, setting forth his manifold grievances, and soliciting redress.
At the same time, he drew up his " Idea," above noticed, in which he
displayed the catalogue of his museum in New Spain, declaring, with
affecting earnestness, that " he would not exchange these treasures for
all the gold and silver, diamonds and pearls, in the New World."
After some delay, the Council gave an award in his favor; acquit-
ting him of any intentional violation of the law, and pronouncing a
high encomium on his deserts. His papers, however, were not re-
stored. But his Majesty was graciously pleased to appoint him Histo-
riographer-General of the Indies, with a salary of one thousand dollars
14*
1 62 BOTURINI.
per annum. The stipend was too small to allow him to return to
Mexico. He remained in Madrid, and completed there the first
volume of a " General History of North America," in 1749. Not long
after this event, and before the publication of the work, he died. The
same injustice was continued to his heirs ; and, notwithstanding re-
peated applications in their behalf, they were neither put in possession
of their unfortunate kinsman's collection, nor received a remuneration
for it. What was worse, — as far as the public was concerned, — the
collection itself was deposited in apartments of the vice-regal palace
at Mexico, so damp that they gradually fell to pieces, and the few
remaining were still further diminished by the pilfering of the curious.
When Baron Humboldt visited Mexico, not one-eighth of this inesti-
mable treasure was in existence!
I have been thus particular in the account of the unfortunate Botu-
rini, as affording, on the whole, the most remarkable example of the
serious obstacles and persecutions which literary enterprise, directed
in the path of the national antiquities, has, from some cause or other,
been exposed to in New Spain.
Boturini's manuscript volume was never printed, and probably never
will be, if indeed it is in existence. This will scarcely prove a great
detriment to science or to his own reputation. He was a man of a
zealous temper, strongly inclined to the marvellous, with little of that
acuteness requisite for penetrating the tangled mazes of antiquity, or
of the philosophic spirit fitted for calmly weighing its doubts and
difficulties. His " Idea " affords a sample of his peculiar mind. With
abundant learning, ill assorted and ill digested, it is a jumble of fact
and puerile fiction, interesting details, crazy dreams, and fantastic
theories. But it is hardly fair to judge by the strict rules of criticism
a work which, put together hastily, as a catalogue of literary treasures,
was designed by the author rather to show what might be done, than
that he could do it himself. It is rare that talents for action and con-
templation are united in the same individual. Boturini was eminently
qualified, by his enthusiasm and perseverance, for collecting the mate-
rials necessary to illustrate the antiquities of the country. It requires
a more highly gifted mind to avail itself of them.
CHAPTER VI.
THE TEZCUCANS. — THEIR GOLDEN AGE. — ACCOMPLISHED
PRINCES. DECLINE OF THEIR MONARCHY.
The reader would gather but an imperfect notion of
the civilization of Anahuac, without some account of
the Acolhuans, or Tezcucans, as they are usually called ;
a nation of the same great family with the Aztecs,
whom they rivalled in power and surpassed in intel-
lectual culture and the arts of social refinement.
Fortunately, we have ample materials for this in the
records left by Ixtlilxochitl, a lineal descendant of the
royal line of Tezcuco, who flourished in the century
of the Conquest. With every opportunity for infor-
mation he combined much industry and talent, and,
if his narrative bears the high coloring of one who
would revive the faded glories of an ancient but dilapi-
dated house, he has been uniformly commended for
his fairness and integrity, and has been followed with-
out misgiving by such Spanish writers as could have
access to his manuscripts.* I shall confine myself to
the prominent features of the two reigns which may be
said to embrace the golden age of Tezcuco, without
attempting to weigh the probability of the details,
which I will leave to be settled by the reader, accord-
ing to the measure of his faith.
1 For a criticism on this writer, see the Postscript to this chapter.
(163)
1 64 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
The Acolhuans came into the Valley, as we have
seen, about the close of the twelfth century, and built
their capital of Tezcuco on the eastern borders of the
lake, opposite to Mexico. From this point they
gradually spread themselves over the northern portion
of Anahuac, when their career was checked by an in-
vasion of a kindred race, the Tepanecs, who, after a
desperate struggle, succeeded in taking their city, slay-
ing their monarch, and entirely subjugating his king-
dom. 2 This event took place about 1418; and the
young prince, Nezahualcoyotl, the heir to the crown,
then fifteen years old, saw his father butchered before
his eyes, while he himself lay concealed among the
friendly branches of a tree which overshadowed the
spot. 3 His subsequent history is as full of romantic
daring and perilous escapes as that of the renowned
Scanderbeg or of the " young Chevalier." *
Not long after his flight from the field of his father's
blood, the Tezcucan prince fell into the hands of his
enemy, was borne off in triumph to his city, and
was thrown into a dungeon. He effected his escape,
however, through the connivance of the governor of
the fortress, an old servant of his family, who took the
place of the royal fugitive, and paid for his loyalty
with his life. He was at length permitted, through
8 See Chapter I. of this Introduction, p. 17.
3 Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, MS., No. 9. — Idem, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 19.
4 The adventures of the former hero are told with his usual spirit by
Sismondi (Republiques Italiennes, chap. 79). It is hardly necessary,
for the latter, to refer the English reader to Chambers's " History of
the Rebellion of 1745 ;" a work which proves how thin is the partition
in human life which divides romance from reality.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO. 165
the intercession of the reigning family in Mexico,
which was allied to him, to retire to that capital, and
subsequently to his own, where he found a shelter in
his ancestral palace. Here he remained unmolested
for eight years, pursuing his studies under an old pre-
ceptor, who had had the care of his early youth, and
who instructed him in the various duties befitting his
princely station. 5
At the end of this period the Tepanec usurper died,
bequeathing his empire to his son, Maxtla, a man of
fierce and suspicious temper. Nezahualcoyotl has-
tened to pay his obeisance to him, on his accession.
But the tyrant refused to receive the little present of
flowers which he laid at his feet, and turned his back
on him in presence of his chieftains. One of his at-
tendants, friendly to the young prince, admonished him
to provide for his own safety, by withdrawing, as
speedily as possible, from the palace, where his life
was in danger. He lost no time, consequently, in
retreating from the inhospitable court, and returned to
Tezcuco. Maxtla, however, was bent on his destruc-
tion. He saw with jealous eye the opening talents and
popular manners of his rival, and the favor he was
daily winning from his ancient subjects. 6
He accordingly laid a plan for making away with him
at an evening entertainment. It was defeated by the
vigilance of the prince's tutor, who contrived to mis-
lead the assassins and to substitute another victim in
the place, of his pupil. 7 The baffled tyrant now threw
5 Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, MS., No. 10.
6 Idem, Relaciones, MS., No. 10. — Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 20-24.
7 Idem, Hist. Chich.- MS., cap. 25. The contrivance was effected
1 66 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
off all disguise, and sent a strong party of soldiers to
Tezcuco, with orders to enter the palace, seize the
person of Nezahualcoyotl, and slay him on the spot.
The prince, who became acquainted with the plot
through the watchfulness of his preceptor, instead of
flying, as he was counselled, resolved to await his
enemies. They found him playing at ball, when they
arrived, in the court of his palace. He received them
courteously, and invited them in, to take some refresh-
ments after their journey. While they were occupied
in this way, he passed into an adjoining saloon, which
excited no suspicion, as he was still visible through the
open doors by which the apartments communicated
with each other. A burning censer stood in the pas-
sage, and, as it was fed by the attendants, threw up
such clouds of incense as obscured his movements from
the soldiers. Under this friendly veil he succeeded in
making his escape by a secret passage, which com-
municated with a large earthen pipe formerly used to
bring water to the palace. 8 Here he remained till
nightfall, when, taking advantage of the obscurity, he
found his way into the suburbs, and sought a shelter in
the cottage of one of his father's vassals.
The Tepanec monarch, enraged at this repeated dis-
by means of an extraordinary personal resemblance of the parties ; a
fruitful source of comic — as every reader of the drama knows — though
rarely of tragic interest.
8 It was customary, on entering the presence of a great lord, to
throw aromatics into the censer. " Hecho en el brasero incienso y
copal, que era uso y costumbre donde estaban los Reyes y Sefiores,
cada vez que los criados entraban con mucha reverencia y acatamiento
echaban sahumerio en el brasero ; y asi con este perfume se obscure-
cia algo la sala." Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, MS., No. II.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO. i^j
appointment, ordered instant pursuit. A price was set
on the head of the royal fugitive. Whoever should
take him, dead or alive, was promised, however hum-
ble his degree, the hand of a noble lady, and an ample
domain along with it. Troops of armed men were
ordered to scour the country in every direction. In
the course of the search, the cottage in which the
prince had taken refuge was entered. But he fortu-
nately escaped detection by being hid under a heap of
maguey fibres used for manufacturing cloth. As this
was no longer a proper place of concealment, he sought
a retreat in the mountainous and woody district lying
between the borders of his own state and Tlascala. 9
Here he led a wretched, wandering life, exposed to
all the inclemencies of the weather, hiding himself in
deep thickets and caverns, and stealing out, at night,
to satisfy the cravings of appetite ; while he was kept
in constant alarm by the activity of his pursuers, always
hovering on his track. On one occasion he sought
refuge from them among a small party of soldiers, who
proved friendly to him and concealed him in a large
drum around which they were dancing. At another
time he was just able to turn the crest of a hill as his
enemies were climbing it on the other side, when he
fell in with a girl who was reaping chia, — a Mexican
plant, the seed of which was much used in the drinks
of the country. He persuaded her to cover him up
with the stalks she had been cutting. When his pur-
suers came up, and inquired if she had seen the fugi-
tive, the girl coolly answered that she had, and pointed
9 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 26.— Relaciones, MS., No.
11. — Veytia, Hist, antig., lib. 2, cap. 47.
1 68 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
out a path as the one he had taken Notwithstand-
ing the high rewards offered, Nezahualcoyotl seems to
have incurred no danger from treachery, such was
the general attachment felt to himself and his house.
" Would you not deliver up the prince, if he came in
your way?" he inquired of a young peasant who was
unacquainted with his person. "Not I," replied the
other. "What, not for a fair lady's hand, and a rich
dowry beside?" rejoined the prince. At which the
other only shook his head and laughed. 10 On more
than one occasion his faithful people submitted to
torture, and even to lose their lives, rather than dis-
close the place of his retreat."
However gratifying such proofs of loyalty might be
to his feelings, the situation of the prince in these
mountain solitudes became every day more distressing.
It gave a still keener edge to his own sufferings to
witness those of the faithful followers who chose to
accompany him in his wanderings. "Leave me," he
would say to them, " to my fate ! Why should you
throw away your own lives for one whom fortune is
never weary of persecuting ?" Most of the great Tez-
cucan chiefs had consulted their interests by a timely
adhesion to the usurper. But some still clung to their
prince, preferring proscription, and death itself, rather
than desert him in his extremity. 12
10 " Nezahualcoiotzin le dixo, que si viese d. quien buscaban, si lo
irfa & denunciar? respondi6, que no; tornan doled, replicar diciendole,
que haria mui mal en perder una muger hermosa y lo demas que el
rey Maxtla prometia, el mancebo se rid de todo, no haciendo caso ni
de lo uno ni de lo otro." Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 27.
11 Ibid., MS., cap. 26, 27. — Relaciones, MS., No. 11. — Veytia, Hist,
antig., lib. 2, cap. 47, 48.
12 Ixtlilxochitl, MSS., ubi supra. — Veytia, ubi supra.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO. 169
In the mean time, his friends at a distance were
active in measures for his relief. The oppressions of
Maxtla, and his growing empire, had caused general
alarm in the surrounding states, who recalled the mild
rule of the Tezcucan princes. A coalition was formed,
a plan of operations concerted, and, on the day ap-
pointed for a general rising, Nezahualcoyotl found him-
self at the head of a force sufficiently strong to face
his Tepanec adversaries. An engagement came on,
in which the latter were totally discomfited ; and the
victorious prince, receiving everywhere on his route
the homage of his joyful subjects, entered his capital,
not like a proscribed outcast, but as the rightful heir,
and saw himself once more enthroned in the halls of
his fathers.
Soon after, he united his forces with the Mexicans,
long disgusted with the arbitrary conduct of Maxtla.
The allied powers, after a series of bloody engagements
with the usurper, routed him under the walls of his
own capital. He fled to the baths, whence he was
dragged out, and sacrificed with the usual cruel cere-
monies of the Aztecs ; the royal city of Azcapozalco
was razed to the ground, and the wasted territory was
henceforth reserved as the great slave-market for the
nations of Anahuac. 13
These events were succeeded by the remarkable
league among the three powers of Tezcuco, Mexico,
and Tlacopan, of which some account has been given
in a previous chapter. 14 Historians are not agreed as
J 3 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 28-31. — Relacioncs, MS.,
No. 11. — Veytia, Hist, antig., lib. 2, cap. 51-54.
** See page 21 of this volume.
Vol. I. — h 15
170
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
to the precise terms of it ; the writers of the two
former nations each insisting on the paramount author-
ity of his own in the coalition. All agree in the sub-
ordinate position of Tlacopan, a state, like the others,
bordering on the lake. It is certain that in their sub-
sequent operations, whether of peace or war, the three
states shared in each other's councils, embarked in
each other's enterprises, and moved in perfect concert
together, till just before the coming of the Spaniards.
The first measure of Nezahualcoyotl, on returning
to his dominions, was a general amnesty. It was his
maxim " that a monarch might punish, but revenge
was unworthy of him." ,s In the present instance he
was averse even to punish, and not only freely pardoned
his rebel nobles, but conferred on some, who had most
deeply offended, posts of honor and confidence. Such
conduct was doubtless politic, especially as their alien-
ation was owing, probably, much more to fear of the
usurper than to any disaffection towards himself. But
there are some acts of policy which a magnanimous
spirit only can execute.
The restored monarch next set about repairing the
damages sustained under the late misrule, and reviving,
or rather remodelling, the various departments of gov-
ernment. He framed a concise, but comprehensive,
code of laws, so well suited, it was thought, to the
exigencies of the times, that it was adopted as their
own by the two other members of the triple alliance.
It was written in blood, and entitled the author to be
called the Draco rather than " the Solon of Anahuac,"
is " Que venganza no es justo la procuren los Reyes, sino castigar
al que lo mereciere." MS. de Ixtlilxochitl.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO.
171
as he is fondly styled by his admirers. 16 Humanity is
one of the best fruits of refinement. It is only with
increasing civilization that the legislator studies to
economize human suffering, even for the guilty ; to
devise penalties not so much by way of punishment
for the past as of reformation for the future. 17
He divided the burden of government among a
number of departments, as the council of war, the
council of finance, the council of justice. This last
was a court of supreme authority, both in civil and
criminal matters, receiving appeals from the lower tri-
bunals of the provinces, which were obliged to make a
full report, every four months, or eighty days, of their
own proceedings to this higher judicature. In all
these bodies, a certain number of citizens were allowed
to have seats with the nobles and professional digni-
taries. There was, however, another body, a council
of state, for aiding the king in the despatch of business,
and advising him in matters of importance, which was
drawn altogether from the highest order of chiefs. It
consisted of fourteen members; and they had seats
provided for them at the royal table. 13
16 See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p. 247. — Nezahualcoyotl's
code consisted of eighty laws, of which thirty-four only have come
down to us, according to Veytia. (Hist, antig., torn. iii. p. 224, nota.)
Ixtlilxochitl enumerates several of them. Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 38,
and Relaciones, MS., Ordenanzas.
»7 Nowhere are these principles kept more steadily in view than in
the various writings of our adopted countryman Dr. Lieber, having
more or less to do with the theory of legislation. Such works could
not have been produced before the nineteenth century.
*8 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36. — Veytia, Hist, antig., lib.
3, cap. 7. — According to Zurita, the principal judges, at their general
meetings every four months, constituted also a sort of parliament or
1 72 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Lastly, there was an extraordinary tribunal, called
the council of music, but which, differing from the
import of its name, was devoted to the encouragement
of science and art. Works on astronomy, chronology,
history, or any other science, were required to be sub-
mitted to its judgment, before they could be made
public. This censorial power was of some moment,
at least with regard to the historical department, where
the wilful perversion of truth was made a capital offence
by the bloody code of Nezahualcoyotl. Yet a Tez-
cucan author must have been a bungler, who could not
elude a conviction under the cloudy veil of hiero-
glyphics. This body, which was drawn from the best-
instructed persons in the kingdom, with little regard
to rank, had supervision of all the productions of art,
and of the nicer fabrics. It decided on the qualifi-
cations of the professors in the various branches of
science, on the fidelity of their instructions to their
pupils, the deficiency of which was severely punished,
and it instituted examinations of these latter. In short,
it was a general board of education for the country.
On stated days, historical compositions, and poems
treating of moral or traditional topics, were recited
before it by their authors. Seats were provided for the
three crowned heads of the empire, who deliberated
with the other members on the respective merits of the
pieces, and distributed prizes of value to the successful
competitors.* 9
c6rtes, for advising the king on matters of state. See his Rapport,
p. 106; also ante, p. 33.
»9 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36. — Clavigero, Stor. del
Messico, torn. ii. p. 137. — Veytia, Hist, antig., lib. 3, cap. 7. — " Con-
currian a este consejo las tres cabezas del imperio, en ciertos dias, &.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO.
173
Such are the marvellous accounts transmitted to us
of this institution ; an institution certainly not to have
been expected among the aborigines of America. It
is calculated to give us a higher idea of the refinement
of the people than even the noble architectural remains
which still cover some parts of the continent. Archi-
tecture is, to a certain extent, a sensual gratification.
It addresses itself to the eye, and affords the best scope
for the parade of barbaric pomp and splendor. It is
the form in which the revenues of a semi-civilized
people are most likely to be lavished. The most gaudy
and ostentatious specimens of it, and sometimes the
most stupendous, have been reared by such hands. It
is one of the first steps in the great march of civiliza-
tion. But the institution in question was evidence of
still higher refinement. It was a literary luxury, and
argued the existence of a taste in the nation which
relied for its gratification on pleasures of a purely
intellectual character.
The influence of this academy must have been most
propitious to the capital, which became the nursery
not only of such sciences as could be compassed by
the scholarship of the period, but of various useful
and ornamental arts. Its historians, orators, and poets
oir cantar las poesias historicas antiguas y modernas, para instruirse
de toda su historia, y tambien cuando habia algun nuevo invento en
cualquiera facultad, para examinarlo, aprobarlo, 6 reprobarlo. Delante
de las sillas de los reyes habia una gran mesa cargada de joyas de oro
y plata, pedrerfa, plumas, y otras cosas estimables, y en los rincones
de la sala muchas de mantas de todas calidades, para premios de las
habilidades y esti'mulo de los profesores, las cuales alhajas repartian
los reyes, en los dias que concurrian, & los que se aventajaban en el
ejercicio de sus facultades." Ibid.
15*
i 7 4 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
were celebrated throughout the country. 20 Its archives,
for which accommodations were provided in the royal
palace, were stored with the records of primitive ages. 21
Its idiom, more polished than the Mexican, was, in-
deed, the purest of all the Nahuatlac dialects, and con-
tinued, long after the Conquest, to be that in which
the best productions of the native races were composed.
Tezcuco claimed the glory of being the Athens of the
Western world. 22
Among the most illustrious of her bards was the
emperor himself, — for the Tezcucan writers claim this
title for their chief, as head of the imperial alliance.
He doubtless appeared as a competitor before that very
academy where he so often sat as a critic. Many of
his odes descended to a late generation, and are still
preserved, perhaps, in some of the dusty repositories
of Mexico or Spain. 23 The historian Ixtlilxochitl has
20 Veytia, Hist, antig., lib. 3, cap. 7. — Clavigero, Stor. del Messico,
torn. i. p. 247. — The latter author enumerates four historians, some of
much repute, of the royal house of Tezcuco, descendants of the great
Nezahualcoyotl. See his Account of Writers, torn. i. pp. 6-21.
81 " En la ciudad de Tezcuco estaban los Archivos Reales de todas
las cosas referidas, por haver sido la Metropoli de todas las ciencias,
usos, y buenas costumbres, porque los Reyes que fueron de ella se
preciaron de esto." (Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., Prologo.) It
was from the poor wreck of these documents, once so carefully pre-
served by his ancestors, that the historian gleaned the materials, as he
informs us, for his own works.
22 " Aunque es tenida la lengua Mejicana por materna, y la Tezcu-
cana por mas cortesana y pulida." (Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala,
MS.) "Tezcuco," says Boturini, "where the noblemen sent their
sons to acquire the most polished dialect of the Nahuatlac language,
and to study poetry moral philosophy, the heathen theology, astron-
omy, medicine, and history." Idea, p. ,142.
2 3 " He composed sixty songs," says the author last quoted, "which
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO.
1 75
left a translation, in Castilian, of one of the poems of
his royal ancestor. It is not easy to render his version
into corresponding English rhyme, without the per-
fume of the original escaping in this double filtration. 24
They remind one of the rich breathings of Spanish-
Arab poetry, in which an ardent imagination is tem-
pered by a not unpleasing and moral melancholy. 25
But, though sufficiently florid in diction, they are
generally free from the meretricious ornaments and
hyperbole with which the minstrelsy of the East is
usually tainted. They turn on the vanities and mu-
tability of human life, — a topic very natural for a
monarch who had himself experienced the strangest
mutations of fortune. There is mingled in the lament
of the Tezcucan bard, however, an Epicurean philos-
ophy, which seeks relief from the fears of the future
in the joys of the present. "Banish care," he says:
" if there are bounds to pleasure, the saddest life must
also have an end. Then weave the chaplet of flowers,
and sing thy songs in praise of the all-powerful God ;
for the glory of this world soon fadeth away. Rejoice
in the green freshness of thy spring ; for the day will
have probably perished by the incendiary hands of the ignorant."
(Idea, p. 79.) Boturini had translations of two of these in his museum
(Cat&logo, p. 8), and another has since come to light.
«4 Difficult as the task may be, it has been executed by the hand of
a fair friend, who, while she has adhered to the Castilian with singular
fidelity, has shown a grace and flexibility in her poetical movements
which the Castilian version, and probably the Mexican original, cannot
boast. See both translations in Appendix, Part 2, No. 2.
B S Numerous specimens of this may be found in Conde's " Domi-
nacion de los Arabes en Espana." None of them are superior to the
plaintive strains of the royal Abderahman on the solitary palm-tree
which reminded him of the pleasant land of his birth. See Parte 2,
cap. 9.
176 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
come when thou shalt sigh for these joys in vain ;
when the sceptre shall pass from thy hands, thy ser-
vants shall wander desolate in thy courts, thy sons,
and the sons of thy nobles, shall drink the dregs of
distress, and all the pomp of thy victories and triumphs
shall live only in their recollection. Yet the remem-
brance of the just shall not pass away from the nations,
and the good thou hast done shall ever be held in
honor. The goods of this life, its glories and its
riches, are but lent to us, its substance is but an illu-
sory shadow, and the things of to-day shall change on
the coming of the morrow. Then gather the fairest
flowers from thy gardens, to bind round thy brow, and
seize the joys of the present ere they perish. ' ' " 6
" Io tocare cantando
El musico instrumento sonoroso,
Tu de flores gozando
Danza, y festeja a Dios que es poderoso ;
O gozemos de esta gloria,
Porque la humana vida es transitoria."
MS. DE IXTXILXOCHITL.
The sentiment, which is common enough, is expressed with un-
common beauty by the English poet Herrick :
" Gather the rosebuds while you may ;
Old Time is still a flying ;
The fairest flower that blooms to-day
To-morrow may be dying."
And with still greater beauty, perhaps, by Racine :
" Rions, chantons, dit cette troupe impie,
De fleurs en fleurs, de plaisirs en plaisirs,
Promenons nos desirs.
Sur l'avenir insense qui se fie.
De nos ans passagers le nombre est incertain.
Hatons-nous aujourd'hui de jouir de la vie ;
Qui sait si nous serons demain?"
Athalie, Acte 2.
It is interesting to see under what different forms the same senti-
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO.
177
But the hours of the Tezcucan monarch were not all
passed in idle dalliance with the Muse, nor in the sober
contemplations of philosophy, as at a later period. In
the freshness of youth and early manhood he led the
allied armies in their annual expeditions, which were
certain to result in a wider extent of territory to the
empire. 27 In the intervals of peace he fostered those
productive arts which are the surest sources of public
prosperity. He encouraged agriculture above all ; and
there was scarcely a spot so rude, or a steep so in-
accessible, as not to confess the power of cultivation.
The land was covered with a busy population, and
towns and cities sprang up in places since deserted or
dwindled into miserable villages. 28
From resources thus enlarged by conquest and do-
ment is developed by different races and in different languages. It is
an Epicurean sentiment, indeed, but its universality proves its truth
to nature.
=7 Some of the provinces and places thus conquered were held by
the allied powers in common ; Tlacopan, however, only receiving
one-fifth of the tribute. It was more usual to annex the vanquished
territory to that one of the two great states to which it lay nearest.
See Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 38. — Zurita, Rapport, p. 11.
38 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 41. The same writer, in
another work, calls the population of Tezcuco, at this period, double
of what it was at the Conquest ; founding his estimate on the royal
registers, and on the numerous remains of edifices still visible in his
day, in places now depopulated. " Parece en las historias que en
este tiempo, antes que se destruyesen, havia doblado mas gente de la
que hallo al tiempo que vino Cortes, y los demas Espanoles : porque
yo hallo en los padrones reales, que el menor pueblo tenia 1100 veci-
nos, y de alii para arriba, y ahora no tienen 200 vecinos, y aun en
algunas partes de todo punto se han acabado. . . . Como se hecha
de ver en las ruinas, hasta los mas altos montes y sierras tenian sus
sementeras, y casas principales para vivir y morar." Relaciones,
MS., No. 9.
H*
178 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
mestic industry, the monarch drew the means for the
large consumption of his own numerous household, 29
and for the costly works which he executed for the
convenience and embellishment of the capital. He
filled it with stately edifices for his nobles, whose con-
stant attendance he was anxious to secure at his court. 30
He erected a magnificent pile of buildings which might
serve both for a royal residence and for the public
offices. It extended, from east to west, twelve hun-
dred and thirty-four yards, and from north to south,
nine hundred and seventy-eight. It was encompassed
by a wall of unburnt bricks and cement, six feet wide
and nine high for one half of the circumference, and
fifteen feet high for the other half. Within this en-
closure were two courts. The outer one was used as
the great market-place of the city, and continued to
be so until long after the Conquest, — if, indeed, it is
not now. The interior court was surrounded by the
council-chambers and halls of justice. There were also
accommodations there for the foreign ambassadors;
and a spacious saloon, with apartments opening into
29 Torquemada has extracted the particulars of the yearly expendi-
ture of the palace from the royal account-book, which came into the
historian's possession. The following are some of the items, namely :
4,900,300 fanegas of maize (the fanega is equal to about one hundred
pounds) ; 2,744,000 fanegas of cacao ; 8000 turkeys ; 1300 baskets of
salt ; besides an incredible quantity of game of every kind, vegetables,
condiments, etc. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 53.) See, also, Ixtlilxo-
chitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 35.
3° There were more than four hundred of these lordly residences.
" Asi mismo hizo edificar muchas casas y palacios para los senores
y cavalleros, que asistian en su corte, cada uno conforme d. la calidad
y meritos de su persona, las quales llegaron a ser mas de quatrocientas
casas de senores y cavalleros de solar conocido." Ibid., cap. 38.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZUCCO.
179
it, for men of science and poets, who pursued their
studies in this retreat or met together to hold converse
under its marble porticoes. In this quarter, also, were
kept the public archives, which fared better under
the Indian dynasty than they have since under their
European successors. 31
Adjoining this court were the apartments of the
king, including those for the royal harem, as liberally
supplied with beauties as that of an Eastern sultan.
Their walls were incrusted with alabasters and richly-
tinted stucco, or hung with gorgeous tapestries of varie-
gated feather-work. They led through long arcades,
and through intricate labyrinths of shrubbery, into
gardens where baths and sparkling fountains were over-
shadowed by tall groves of cedar and cypress. The
basins of water were well stocked with fish of various
kinds, and the aviaries with birds glowing in all the
gaudy plumage of the tropics. Many birds and ani-
mals which could not be obtained alive were repre-
sented in gold and silver so skilfully as to have fur-
nished the great naturalist Hernandez with models for
his work. 32
31 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36. " Esta plaza cercada de
portales, y tenia asi mismo por la parte del poniente otra sala grande,
y muchos quartos a la redonda, que era la universidad, en donde
asistian todos los poetas, historicos.y philosophos del reyno, divididos
en sus claves, y academias, conforme era la facultad de cada uno, y
asi mismo estaban aqui los archivos reales."
3 s This celebrated naturalist was sent by Philip II. to New Spain,
and he employed several years in compiling a voluminous work
on its various natural productions, with drawings illustrating them.
Although the government is said to have expended sixty thousand
ducats in effecting this great object, the volumes were not published
till long after the author's death. In 1651 a mutilated edition of the
180 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
Accommodations on a princely scale were provided
for the sovereigns of Mexico and Tlacopan when they
visited the court. The whole of this lordly pile con-
tained three hundred apartments, some of them fifty
yards square. 33 The height of the building is not
mentioned. It was probably not great, but supplied
the requisite room by the immense extent of ground
which it covered. The interior was doubtless con-
structed of light materials, especially of the rich woods
which, in that country, are remarkable, when polished,
for the brilliancy and variety of their colors. That
the more solid materials of stone and stucco were also
liberally employed is proved by the remains at the
present day; remains which have furnished an inex-
haustible quarry for the churches and other edifices
since erected by the Spaniards on the site of the an-
cient city. 34
part of the work relating to medical botany appeared at Rome. — The
original MSS. were supposed to have been destroyed by the great fire
in the Escorial, not many years after. Fortunately, another copy, in
the author's own hand, was detected by the indefatigable Munoz, in
the library of the Jesuits' College at Madrid, in the latter part of the
last century; and a beautiful edition, from the famous press of Ibarra,
was published in that capital, under the patronage of government, in
1790. (Hist. Plantarum, Praefatio. — Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca His-
pana Nova (Matriti, 1790), torn. ii. p. 432.) The work of Hernandez
is a monument of industry and erudition, the more remarkable as
being the first on this difficult subject. And, after all the additional light
from the labors of later naturalists, it still holds its place as a book of
the highest authority, for the perspicuity, fidelity, and thoroughness
with which the multifarious topics in it are discussed.
33 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36.
34 " Some of the terraces on which it stood," says Mr. Bullock,
speaking of this palace, " are still entire, and covered with cement,
very hard, and equal in beauty to that found in ancient Roman build-
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO. ^i
We are not informed of the time occupied in build-
ing this palace. But two hundred thousand workmen,
it is said, were employed on it. 33 However this may
be, it is certain that the Tezcucan monarchs, like those
of Asia and ancient Egypt, had the control of im-
mense masses of men, and would sometimes turn the
whole population of a conquered city, including the
women, into the public works. 36 The most gigantic
monuments of architecture which the world has wit-
nessed would never have been reared by the hands of
freemen.
Adjoining the palace were buildings for the king's
children, who, by his various wives, amounted to no less
than sixty sons and fifty daughters. 37 Here they were
instructed in all the exercises and accomplishments
suited to their station ; comprehending, what would
scarcely find a place in a royal education on the other
ings. . . . The great church, which stands close by, is almost entirely
built of the materials taken from the palace, many of the sculptured
stones from which may be seen in the walls, though most of the orna-
ments are turned inwards. Indeed, our guide informed us that who-
ever built a house at Tezcuco made the ruins of the palace serve as
his quarry." (Six Months in Mexico, chap. 26.) Torquemada no-
tices the appropriation of the materials to the same purpose. Monarch.
Ind., lib. 2, cap. 45.
35 Ixtlilxochitl, MS., ubi supra.
3 6 Thus, to punish the Chalcas for their rebellion, the whole popu-
lation were compelled, women as well as men, says the chronicler so
often quoted, to labor on the royal edifices for four years together ;
and large granaries were provided with stores for their maintenance
in the mean time. Idem, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 46.
37 If the people in general were not much addicted to polygamy, the
sovereign, it must be confessed, — and it was the same, we shall see, in
Mexico, — made ample amends foi any self-denial on the part of his
subjects.
Vol. I. 16
182 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
side of the Atlantic, the arts of working in metals, jew-
elry, and feather-mosaic. Once in every four months,
the whole household, not excepting the youngest, and
including all the officers and attendants on the king's
person, assembled in a grand saloon of the palace, to
listen to a discourse from an orator, probably one of
the priesthood. The princes, on this occasion, were
all dressed in nequen, the coarsest manufacture of the
country. The preacher began by enlarging on the
obligations of morality and of respect for the gods,
especially important in persons whose rank gave such
additional weight to example. He occasionally sea-
soned his homily with a pertinent application to his
audience, if any member of it had been guilty of a no-
torious delinquency. From this wholesome admonition
the monarch himself was not exempted, and the orator
boldly reminded him of his paramount duty to show
respect for his own laws. The king, so far from taking
umbrage, received the lesson with humility; and the
audience, we are assured, were often melted into tears
by the eloquence of the preacher. 38 This curious scene
may remind one of similar usages in the Asiatic and
Egyptian despotisms, where the sovereign occasionally
condescended to stoop from his pride of place and
allow his memory to be refreshed with the conviction
of his own mortality. 39 It soothed the feelings of the
38 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 37.
39 The Egyptian priests managed the affair in a more courtly style,
and, while they prayed that all sorts of kingly virtues might descend
on the prince, they threw the blame of actual delinquencies on his
ministers; thus, "not by the bitterness of reproof," says Diodorus,
" but by the allurements of praise, enticing him to an honest way of
life." Lib. 1, cap. 70.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO. 183
subject to find himself thus placed, though but for a
moment, on a level with his king ; while it cost little
to the latter, who was removed too far from his people
to suffer anything by this short-lived familiarity. It is
probable that such an act of public humiliation would
have found less favor with a prince less absolute.
Nezahualcoyotl's fondness for magnificence was shown
in his numerous villas, which were embellished with all
that could make a rural retreat delightful. His favorite
residence was at Tezcotzinco, a conical hill about two
leagues from the capital. 40 It was laid out in terraces,
or hanging gardens, having a flight of steps five hundred
and twenty in number, many of them hewn in the
natural porphyry. 41 In the garden on the summit was
a reservoir of water, fed by an aqueduct that was carried
over hill and valley, for several miles, on huge but-
tresses of masonry. A large rock stood in the midst
of this basin, sculptured with the hieroglyphics repre-
senting the years of Nezahualcoyotl's reign and his
principal achievements in each. 42 On a lower level
40 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 42. — See Appendix, Part 2,
No. 3, for the original description of this royal residence.
41 " Quinientos y veynte escalones." Davilla Padilla, Historia de la
Provincia de Santiago (Madrid, 1596), lib. 2, cap. 81. — This writer,
who lived in the sixteenth century, counted the steps himself. Those
which were not cut in the rock were crumbling into ruins, as, indeed,
every part of the establishment was even then far gone to decay.
43 On the summit of the mount, according to Padilla, stood an
image of a coyotl, — an animal resembling a fox, — which, according to
tradition, represented an Indian famous for his fasts. It was de-
stroyed by that stanch iconoclast, Bishop Zumarraga, as a relic of
idolatry. (Hist, de Santiago, lib. 2, cap. 81.) This figure was, no
doubt, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl himself, whose name, as else-
where noticed, signified " hungry fox."
1 84 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
were three other reservoirs, in each of which stood a
marble statue of a woman, emblematic of the three
states of the empire. Another tank contained a winged
lion, (?) cut out of the solid rock, bearing in its mouth
the portrait of the emperor. 43 His likeness had been
executed in gold, wood, feather-work, and stone ; but
this was the only one which pleased him.
From these copious basins the water was distributed
in numerous channels through the gardens, or was
made to tumble over the rocks in cascades, shedding
refreshing dews on the flowers and odoriferous shrubs
below. In the depths of this fragrant wilderness,
marble porticoes and pavilions were erected, and baths
excavated in the solid porphyry, which are still shown
by the ignorant natives as the "Baths of Monte-
zuma" I 44 The visitor descended by steps cut in the
living stone and polished so bright as to reflect like
mirrors. 45 Towards the base of the hill, in the midst
of cedar groves, whose gigantic branches threw a
43 " Hecho de una pefia un leon de mas de dos brazas de largo con
sus alas y plumas : estaba hechado y mirando a la parte del oriente, en
cuia boca asomaba un rostro, que era el mismo retrato del Rey."
Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 42.
44 Bullock speaks of a "beautiful basin, twelve feet long by eight
wide, having a well five feet by four, deep in the centre," etc. etc.
Whether truth lies in the bottom of this well is not so clear. Latrobe
describes the baths as " two singular basins, perhaps two feet and a
half in diameter, not large enough for any monarch bigger than
Oberon to take a duck in." (Comp. Six Months in Mexico, chap.
26 ; and Rambler in Mexico, Let. 7.) Ward speaks much to the same
purpose (Mexico in 1827 (London, 1828), vol. ii. p. 296), which
agrees with verbal accounts I have received of the same spot.
45 " Gradas hechas de la misma pefia tan bien gravadas y lizas que
parecian espejos." (Ixtlilxochitl, MS., ubi supra.) The travellers
just cited notice the beautiful polish still visible in the porphyry.
GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO. xZ^
refreshing coolness over the verdure in the sultriest
seasons of the year/ 6 rose the royal villa, with its light
arcades and airy halls, drinking in the sweet perfumes
of the gardens. Here the monarch often retired, to
throw off the burden of state and refresh his wearied
spirits in the society of his favorite wives, reposing
during the noontide heats in the embowering shades
of his paradise, or mingling, in the cool of the even-
ing, in their festive sports and dances. Here he enter-
tained his imperial brothers of Mexico and Tlacopan,
and followed the hardier pleasures of the chase in the
noble woods that stretched for miles around his villa,
flourishing in all their primeval majesty. Here, too,
he often repaired in the latter days of his life, when
age had tempered ambition and cooled the ardor of his
blood, to pursue in solitude the studies of philosophy
and gather wisdom from meditation.
The extraordinary accounts of the Tezcucan archi-
tecture are confirmed, in the main, by the relics which
still cover the hill of Tezcotzinco or are half buried
beneath its surface. They attract little attention, in-
deed, in the country, where their true history has long
since passed into oblivion ; 47 while the traveller whose
* 6 Padilla saw entire pieces of cedar among the ruins, ninety feet
long and four in diameter. Some of the massive portals, he observed,
were made of a single stone. (Hist, de Santiago, lib. u, cap. 81.)
Peter Martyr notices an enormous wooden beam, used in the con-
struction of the palaces of Tezcuco, which was one hundred and
twenty feet long by eight feet in diameter ! The accounts of this and
similar huge pieces of timber were so astonishing, he adds, that he
could not have received them except on the most unexceptionable
testimony. De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.
47 It is much to be regretted that the Mexican government should
not take a deeper interest in the Indian antiquities. What might not
16*
1 86 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
curiosity leads him to the spot speculates on their
probable origin, and, as he stumbles over the huge
fragments of sculptured porphyry and granite, refers
them to the primitive races who spread their colossal
architecture over the country long before the coming
of the Acolhuans and the Aztecs. 48
The Tezcucan princes were used to entertain a great
number of concubines. They had but one lawful wife,
to whose issue the crown descended. 49 Nezahualcoyotl
remained unmarried to a late period. He was disap-
pointed in an early attachment, as the princess who
had been educated in privacy to be the partner of
his throne gave her hand to another. The injured
monarch submitted the affair to the proper tribunal.
The parties, however, were proved to have been igno-
rant of the destination of the lady, and the court, with
an independence which reflects equal honor on the
judges who could give and the monarch who could
be effected by a few hands drawn from the idle garrisons of some of
the neighboring towns and employed in excavating this ground, " the
Mount Palatine" of Mexico! But, unhappily, the age of violence has
been succeeded by one of apathy.
4 s " They are doubtless," says Mr. Latrobe, speaking of what he
calls " these inexplicable ruins," " rather of Toltec than Aztec origin,
and, perhaps, with still more probability, attributable to a people of
an age yet more remote." (Rambler in Mexico, Let. 7.) " I am of
opinion," says Mr. Bullock, " that these were antiquities prior to the
discovery of America, and erected by a people whose history was lost
even before the building of the city of Mexico. — Who can solve this
difficulty?" (Six Months in Mexico, ubi supra.) The reader who
takes Ixtlilxochitl for his guide will have no great trouble in solving it.
He will find here, as he might, probably, in some other instances, that
one need go little higher than the Conquest for the origin of antiqui-
ties which claim to be coeval with Phoenicia and ancient Egypt.
« Zurita, Rapport, p. 12.
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES. 187
receive the sentence, acquitted the young couple. This
story is sadly contrasted by the following. 30
The king devoured his chagrin in the solitude of his
beautiful villa of Tezcotzinco, or sought to divert it by
travelling. On one of his journeys he was hospitably
entertained by a potent vassal, the old lord of Tepech-
pan, who, to do his sovereign more honor, caused him
to be attended at the banquet by a noble maiden, be-
trothed to himself, and who, after the fashion of the
country, had been educated under his own roof. She
was of the blood royal of Mexico, and nearly related,
moreover, to the Tezcucan monarch. The latter, who
had all the amorous temperament of the South, was
captivated by the grace and personal charms of the
youthful Hebe, and conceived a violent passion for
her. He did not disclose it to any one, however, but,
on his return home, resolved to gratify it, though at
the expense of his own honor, by sweeping away the
only obstacle which stood in his path.
He accordingly sent an order to the chief of Te-
pechpan to take command of an expedition set on foot
against the Tlascalans. At the same time he instructed
two Tezcucan chiefs to keep near the person of the old
lord, and bring him into the thickest of the fight,
where he might lose his life. He assured them this
had been forfeited by a great crime, but that, from
regard for his vassal's past services, he was willing to
cover up his disgrace by an honorable death.
The veteran, who had long lived in retirement on
his estates, saw himself with astonishment called so
suddenly and needlessly into action, for which so
50 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 43.
^8 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
many younger men were better fitted. He suspected
the cause, and, in the, farewell entertainment to his
friends, uttered a presentiment of his sad destiny. His
predictions were too soon verified ; and a few weeks
placed the hand of his virgin bride at her own dis-
posal.
Nezahualcoyotl did not think it prudent to break his
passion publicly to the princess so soon after the death
of his victim. He opened a correspondence with her
through a female relative, and expressed his deep sym-
pathy for her loss. At the same time, he tendered the
best consolation in his power, by an offer of his heart
and hand. Her former lover had been too well stricken
in years for the maiden to remain long inconsolable.
She was not aware of the perfidious plot against his
life ; and, after a decent time, she was ready to comply
with her duty, by placing herself at the disposal of her
royal kinsman.
It was arranged by the king, in order to give a more
natural aspect to the affair and prevent all suspicion
of the unworthy part he had acted, that the princess
should present herself in his grounds at Tezcotzinco,
to witness some public ceremony there. Nezahual-
coyotl was standing in a balcony of the palace when
she appeared, and inquired, as if struck with her beauty
for the first time, "who the lovely young creature was,
in his gardens." When his courtiers had acquainted
him with her name and rank, he ordered her to be
conducted to the palace, that she might receive the
attentions due to her station. The interview was soon
followed by a public declaration of his passion ; and
the marriage was celebrated not long after, with great
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES. ^9
pomp, in the presence of his court, and of his brother
monarchs of Mexico and Tlacopan. 51
This story, which furnishes so obvious a counterpart
to that of David and Uriah, is told with great circum-
stantiality, both by the king's son and grandson, from
whose narratives Ixtlilxochitl derived it. 52 They stig-
matize the action as the basest in their great ancestor's
life. It is indeed too base not to leave an indelible
stain on any character, however pure in other respects,
and exalted.
The king was strict in the execution of his laws,
though his natural disposition led him to temper justice
with mercy. Many anecdotes are told of the benevo-
lent interest he took in the concerns of his subjects,
and of his anxiety to detect and reward merit, even in
the most humble. It was common for him to ramble
among them in disguise, like the celebrated caliph in
the "Arabian Nights," mingling freely in conversation,
and ascertaining their actual condition with his own
eyes. 53
On one such occasion, when attended only by a
single lord, he met with a boy who was gathering sticks
in a field for fuel. He inquired of him "why he did
not go into the neighboring forest, where he would find
a plenty of them." To which the lad answered, " It
was the king's wood, and he would punish him with
death if he trespassed there." The royal forests were
51 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 43.
3= Idem, ubi supra,
53 " En traje de cazador (que lo acostumbraba & hacer muy de
ordinario), saliendo d solas, y disfrazado para que no fuese conocido,
& reconocer las faltas y necesidad que havia en la repiiblica para re-
mediarlas." Idem, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 46.
190
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
very extensive in Tezcuco, and were guarded by laws
full as severe as those of the Norman tyrants in Eng-
land. " What kind of man is your king?" asked the
monarch, willing to learn the effect of these prohibi-
tions on his own popularity. "A very hard man,"
answered the boy, "who denies his people what God
has given them." 54 Nezahualcoyotl urged him not to
mind such arbitrary laws, but to glean his sticks in the
forest, as there was no one present who would betray
him. But the boy sturdily refused, bluntly accusing
the disguised king, at the same time, of being a traitor,
and of wishing to bring him into trouble.
Nezahualcoyotl, on returning to the palace, ordered
the child and his parents to be summoned before him.
They received the orders with astonishment, but, on
entering the presence, the boy at once recognized the
person with whom he had discoursed so unceremo-
niously, and he was filled with consternation. The
good-natured monarch, however, relieved his appre-
hensions, by thanking him for the lesson he had given
him, and, at the same time, commended his respect
for the laws, and praised his parents for the manner in
which they had trained their son. He then dismissed
the parties with a liberal largess, and afterwards miti-
gated the severity of the forest laws, so as to allow
persons to gather any wood they might find on the
ground, if they did not meddle with the standing
timber. 55
Another adventure is told of him, with a poor wood-
54 " Un hombresillo miserable, pues quita a los hombres lo que Dios
a manos llenas les da." Ixtlilxochitl, loc. cit.
55 Ibid., cap. 46.
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES.
191
man and his wife, who had brought their little load of
billets for sale to the market-place of Tezcuco. The
man was bitterly lamenting his hard lot, and the diffi-
culty with which he earned a wretched subsistence,
while the master of the palace before which they were
standing lived an idle life, without toil, and with all
the luxuries in the world at his command.
He was going on in his complaints, when the good
woman stopped him, by reminding him he might be
overheard. He was so, by Nezahualcoyotl himself,
who, standing screened from observation at a latticed
window which overlooked the market, was amusing
himself, as he was wont, with observing the common
people chaffering in the square. He immediately
ordered the querulous couple into his presence. They
appeared trembling and conscience-struck before him.
The king gravely inquired what they had said. As they
answered him truly, he told them they should reflect
that, if he had great treasures at his command, he had
still greater calls for them ; that, far from leading an
easy life, he was oppressed with the whole burden of
government; and concluded by admonishing them
"to be more cautious in future, as walls had ears." 56
He then ordered his officers to bring a quantity of
cloth and a generous supply of cacao (the coin of
the country), and dismissed them. "Go," said he;
"with the little you now have, you will be rich ; while,
with all my riches, I shall still be poor. ' ' S7
56 <• Porque las paredes oian." (Ixtlilxochitl, loc. cit.) A European
proverb among the American aborigines looks too strange not to
make one suspect the hand of the chronicler.
57 " Le dijo, que con aquello poco le bastaba, y viviria bien aventu-
192
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
It was not his passion to hoard. He dispensed his
revenues munificently, seeking out poor but merito-
rious objects on whom to bestow them. He was par-
ticularly mindful of disabled soldiers, and those who
had in any way sustained loss in the public service,
and, in case of their death, extended assistance to their
surviving families. Open mendicity was a thing he
would never tolerate, but chastised it with exemplary
rigor. 38
It would be incredible that a man of the enlarged
mind and endowments of Nezahualcoyotl should ac-
quiesce in the sordid superstitions of his countrymen,
and still more in the sanguinary rites borrowed by
them from the Aztecs. In truth, his humane temper
shrunk from these cruel ceremonies, and he strenuously
endeavored to recall his people to the more pure and
simple worship of the ancient Toltecs. A circumstance
produced a temporary change in his conduct.
He had been married some years to the wife he had
so unrighteously obtained, but was not blessed with
issue. The priests represented that it was owing to
his neglect of the gods of his country, and that his
only remedy was to propitiate them by human sacri-
fice. The king reluctantly consented, and the altars
once more smoked with the blood of slaughtered cap-
tives. But it was all in vain; and he indignantly
exclaimed, " These idols of wood and stone can neither
hear nor feel ; much less could they make the heavens,
and the earth, and man, the lord of it. These must
rado ; y el, con toda la maquina que le parecia que tenia arto, no tenia
nada; y asi lo despidi6." Ixtlilxochitl, loc. cit.
58 Ibid.
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES.
*93
be the work of the all-powerful, unknown God, Creator
of the universe, on whom alone I must rely for con-
solation and support." S9
He then withdrew to his rural palace of Tezcotzinco,
where he remained forty days, fasting and praying at
stated hours, and offering up no other sacrifice than the
sweet incense of copal, and aromatic herbs and gums.
At the expiration of this time, he is said to have been
comforted by a vision assuring him of the success of
his petition. At all events, such proved to be the fact ;
and this was followed by the cheering intelligence of
the triumph of his arms in a quarter where he had lately
experienced some humiliating reverses. 6 "
Greatly strengthened in his former religious convic-
tions, he now openly professed his faith, and was more
earnest to wean his subjects from their degrading
superstitions and to substitute nobler and more spiritual
conceptions of the Deity. He built a temple in the
usual pyramidal form, and on the summit a tower nine
stories high, to represent the nine heavens; a tenth
was surmounted by a roof painted black, and profusely
59 " Verdaderamcnte los Dioses que io adoro, que son idolos de
piedra que no hablan, ni sienten, no pudieron hacer ni formar la her-
mosura del cielo, el sol, luna, y estrellas que lo hermosean, y dan luz
a la tierra, rios, aguas y fuentes, arboles, y plantas que la hermosean,
las gentes que la poseen, y todo lo criado; algun Dios muy poderoso,
oculto, y no conocido es el Criador de todo el universo. El solo es el
que puede consolarme en mi afliccion, y socorrerme en tan grande
angustia como mi corazon siente." MS. de Ixtlilxochitl.
*° MS. de Ixtlilxochitl. — The manuscript here quoted is one of the
many left by the author on the antiquities of his country, and forms
part of a voluminous compilation made in Mexico by Father Vega, in
1792, by order of the Spanish government. See Appendix, Part 2,
No. 2.
Vol. I.— 1 17
194
AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
gilded with stars, on the outside, and incrusted with
metals and precious stones within. He dedicated this
to "the unknown God, the Cause of causes." 61 It seems
probable, from the emblem on the tower, as well as
from the complexion of his verses, as we shall see, that
he mingled with his reverence for the Supreme the
astral worship which existed among the Toltecs. 62 Vari-
ous musical instruments were placed on the top of the
tower, and the sound of them, accompanied by the
ringing of a sonorous metal struck by a mallet, sum-
moned the worshippers to prayers, at regular seasons. 63
No image was allowed in the edifice, as unsuited to the
"invisible God;" and the people were expressly pro-
hibited from profaning the altars with blood, or any
other sacrifices than that of the perfume of flowers and
sweet-scented gums.
The remainder of his days was chiefly spent in his
delicious solitudes of Tezcotzinco, where he devoted
himself to astronomical and, probably, astrological
studies, and to meditation on his immortal destiny, —
giving utterance to his feelings in songs, or rather
hymns, of much solemnity and pathos. An extract
61 " Al Dios no conocido, causa de las causas." MS. de IxtlilxochitL
62 Their earliest temples were dedicated to the sun. The moon they
worshipped as his wife, and the stars as his sisters. (Veytia, Hist,
antig., torn. i. cap. 25.) The ruins still existing at Teotihuacan, about
seven leagues from Mexico, are supposed to have been temples raised
by this ancient people in honor of the two great deities. Boturini,
Idea, p. 42.
6 3 MS. de IxtlilxochitL — " This was evidently a gong," says Mr.
Ranking, who treads with enviable confidence over the " suppositos
cineres," in the path of the antiquary. See his Historical Researches
on the Conquest of Peru, Mexico, etc., by the Mongols (London,
1827), p. 310.
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES.
*95
from one of these will convey some idea of his religious
speculations. The pensive tenderness of the verses
quoted in a preceding page is deepened here into a
mournful, and even gloomy, coloring ; while the
wounded spirit, instead of seeking relief in the convivial
sallies of a young and buoyant temperament, turns for
consolation to the world beyond the grave :
"All things on earth have their term, and, in the
most joyous career of their vanity and splendor, their
strength fails, and they sink into the dust. All the
round world is but a sepulchre ; and there is nothing
which lives on its surface that shall not be hidden and
entombed beneath it. Rivers, torrents, and streams
move onward to their destination. Not one flows back
to its pleasant source. They rush onward, hastening
to bury themselves in the deep bosom of the ocean.
The things of yesterday are no more to-day ; and the
things of to-day shall cease, perhaps, on the morrow. 64
The cemetery is full of the loathsome dust of bodies
once quickened by living souls, who occupied thrones,
presided over assemblies, marshalled armies, subdued
provinces, arrogated to themselves worship, were puffed
up with vain-glorious pomp, and power, and empire.
" Eut these glories have all passed away, like the
fearful smoke that issues from the throat of Popo-
*4 " Toda la redondez de la tierra es un sepulcro .: no hay cosa que
sustente que con titulo de piedad no la esconda y entierre. Corren
los rios, los arroyos, las fuentes, y las aguas, y ningunas retroceden
para sus alegres nacimientos : aceleranse con ansia para los vastos
dominios de Tluloca [Neptuno], y cuanto mas se arriman &. sus dila-
tadas margenes, tanto mas van labrando las melancolicas urnas para
sepultarse. Lo que fue ayer no es hoy, ni lo de hoy se afianza que
serd manana."
i 9 6 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
catepetl, with no other memorial of their existence
than the record on the page of the chronicler.
"The great, the wise, the valiant, the beautiful, —
alas ! where are they now ? They are all mingled with
the clod ; and that which has befallen them shall happen
to us, and to those that come after us. Yet let us take
courage, illustrious nobles and chieftains, true friends
and loyal subjects, — let us aspire to that heaven where
all is eternal and corruption cannot come. 6 * The horrors
of the tomb are but the cradle of the Sun, and the dark
shadows of death are brilliant lights for the stars." 66
The mystic import of the last sentence seems to point
to that superstition respecting the mansions of the Sun,
which forms so beautiful a contrast to the dark features
of the Aztec mythology.
At length, about the year 1470, 67 Nezahualcoyotl,
6 5 " Aspiremos al cielo, que alii todo es eterno y nada se corrompe."
66 " El horror del sepulcro es lisongera cuna para el, y las funestas
sombras, brillantes luces para los astros." — The original text and a
Spanish translation of this poem first appeared, I believe, in a work of
Granados y Galvez. (Tardes Americanas (Mexico, 1778), p. 90, et
seq.) The original is in the Otomi tongue, and both, together with
a French version, have been inserted by M. Ternaux-Compans in the
Appendix to his translation of IxtlilxochifTs Hist, des Chichimeques
(torn. i. pp. 3S9-367.) Bustamante, who has, also, published the
Spanish version in his Galeria de antiguos Principes Mejicanos
(Puebla, 1821 (pp. 16, 17),), calls it the " Ode of the Flower," which
was recited at a banquet of the great Tezcucan nobles. If this last,
however, be the same mentioned by Torquemada (Monarch. Ind.,
lib. 2, cap. 45), it must have been written in the Tezcucan tongue;
and, indeed, it is not probable that the Otomi, an Indian dialect, so
distinct from the languages of Anahuac, however well understood by
the royal poet, could have been comprehended by a miscellaneous
audience of his countrymen.
^7 An approximation to a date is the most one can hope to arrive
at with Ixtlilxochitl, who has entangled his chronology in a manner
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES.
197
full of years and honors, felt himself drawing near his
end. Almost half a century had elapsed since he
mounted the throne of Tezcuco. He had found his
kingdom dismembered by faction and bowed to the dust
beneath the yoke of a foreign tyrant. He had broken
that yoke; had breathed new life into the nation,
renewed its ancient institutions, extended wide its
domain; had seen it flourishing in all the activity
of trade and agriculture, gathering strength from its
enlarged resources, and daily advancing higher and
higher in the great march of civilization. All this he
had seen, and might fairly attribute no small portion
of it to his own wise and beneficent rule. His long
and glorious day was now drawing to its close ; and he
contemplated the event with the same serenity which
he had shown under the clouds of its morning and in
its meridian splendor.
A short time before his death, he gathered around
him those of his children in whom he most confided,
his chief counsellors, the ambassadors of Mexico and
Tlacopan, and his little son, the heir to the crown, his
only offspring by the queen. He was then not eight
years old, but had already given, as far as so tender a
blossom might, the rich promise of future excellence. 68
After tenderly embracing the child, the dying mon-
arch threw over him the robes of sovereignty. He
then gave audience to the ambassadors, and, when they
beyond my skill to unravel. Thus, after telling us that Nezahualcoyotl
was fifteen years old when his father was slain in 1418, he says he died
at the age of seventy-one, in 1462. Instar omnium. Comp. Hist
Chich., MS., cap. 18, 19, 49.
68 MS. de Ixtlilxochitl,— also Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 49.
17*
198 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
had retired, made the boy repeat the substance of the
conversation. He followed this by such counsels as
were suited to his comprehension, and which, when re-
membered through the long vista of after-years, would
serve as lights to guide him in his government of the
kingdom. He besought him not to neglect the wor-
ship of " the unknown God," regretting that he himself
had been unworthy to know him, and intimating his
conviction that the time would come when he should
be known and worshipped throughout the land. 69
He next addressed himself to that one of his sons in
whom he placed the greatest trust, and whom he had
selected as the guardian of the realm. " From this
hour," said he to him, "you will fill the place that I
have filled, of father to this child ; you will teach him
to live as he ought ; and by your counsels he will rule
over the empire. Stand in his place, and be his guide,
till he shall be of age to govern for himself." Then,
turning to his other children, he admonished them to
live united with one another, and to show all loyalty to
their prince, who, though a child, already manifested
a discretion far above his years. "Be true to him,"
he added, "and he will maintain you in your rights
and dignities." 7 °
Feeling his end approaching, he exclaimed, "Do
not bewail me with idle lamentations. But sing the
69 " No consentiendo que haya sacrificios de gente humana, que
Dios se enoja de ello, castigando con rigor a los que lo hicieren ; que
el dolor que Uevo es no tener luz, ni conocimiento, ni ser merecedor
de conocer tan gran Dios, el qual tengo por cierto que ya que los
presentes no lo conozcan, ha de venir tiempo en que sea conocido y
adorado en esta tierra." MS. de Ixtlilxochitl.
7° Idem, ubi supra; also Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 49.
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES.
199
song of gladness, and show a courageous spirit, that
the nations I have subdued may not believe you dis-
heartened, but may feel that each one of you is strong
enough to keep them in obedience!" The undaunted
spirit of the monarch shone forth even in the agonies
of death. That stout heart, however, melted, as he
took leave of his children and friends, weeping tenderly
over them, while he bade each a last adieu. When
they had withdrawn, he ordered the officers of the
palace to allow no one to enter it again. Soon after,
he expired, in the seventy-second year of his age, and
the forty-third of his reign. 71
Thus died the greatest monarch, and, if one foul blot
could be effaced, perhaps the best, who ever sat upon
an Indian throne. His character is delineated with
tolerable impartiality by his kinsman, the Tezcucan
chronicler: "He was wise, valiant, liberal; and, when
we consider the magnanimity of his soul, the grandeur
and success of his enterprises, his deep policy, as well
as daring, we must admit him to have far surpassed
every other prince and captain of this New World. He
had few failings himself, and rigorously punished those
of others. He preferred the public to his private in-
terest ; was most charitable in his nature, often buy-
ing articles, at double their worth, of poor and honest
persons, and giving them away again to the sick and
infirm. In seasons of scarcity he was particularly
bountiful, remitting the taxes of his vassals, and sup-
plying their wants from the royal granaries. He put
no faith in the idolatrous worship of the country. He
was well instructed in moral science, and sought, above
V- Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 49.
200 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
all things, to obtain light for knowing the true God.
He believed in one God only, the Creator of heaven
and earth, by whom we have our being, who never
revealed himself to us in human form, nor in any
other ; with whom the souls of the virtuous are to
dwell after death, while the wicked will suffer pains
unspeakable. He invoked the Most High, as ' He by
whom we live,' and 'Who has all things in himself.'
He recognized the Sun for his father, and the Earth
for his mother. He taught his children not to confide
in idols, and only to conform to the outward worship
of them from deference to public opinion. 72 If he
could not entirely abolish human sacrifices, derived
from the Aztecs, he at least restricted them to slaves
and captives. ' ' 73
I have occupied so much space with this illustrious
prince that but little remains for his son and successor,
Nezahualpilli. I have thought it better, in our narrow
limits, to present a complete view of a single epoch,
the most interesting in the Tezcucan annals, than to
spread the inquiries over a broader but comparatively
barren field. Yet Nezahualpilli, the heir to the crown,
was a remarkable person, and his reign contains many
incidents which I regret to be obliged to pass over in
silence. 74
73 " Solia amonestar a sus hijos en secreto que no adorasen a aque-
Uas figuras de idolos, y que aquello que hiciesen en publico fuese solo
for cumplimiento." Ixtlilxochitl.
73 Idem, ubi supra.
74 The name Nezahualpilli signifies " the prince for whom one has
fasted," — in allusion, no doubt, to the long fast of his father previous
to his birth. (See Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 45.) I have
explained the meaning of the equally euphonious name of his parent,
Nezahualcoyotl. {Ante, ch. 4.) If it be true that
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES. 201
He had, in many respects, a taste similar to his
father's, and, like him, displayed a profuse magnifi-
cence in his way of living and in his public edifices.
He was more severe in his morals, and, in the execu-
tion of justice, stern even to the sacrifice of natural
affection. Several remarkable instances of this are
told ; one, among others, in relation to his eldest son,
the heir to the crown, a prince of great promise. The
young man entered into a poetical correspondence
with one of his father's concubines, the lady of Tula,
as she was called, a woman of humble origin, but of
uncommon endowments. She wrote verses with ease,
and could discuss graver matters with the king and his
ministers. She maintained a separate establishment,
where she lived in state, and acquired, by her beauty
and accomplishments, great ascendency over her royal
lover. 75 With this favorite the prince carried on a
correspondence in verse, — whether of an amorous
nature does not appear. At all events, the offence
was capital. It was submitted to the regular tribunal,
who pronounced sentence of death on the unfortunate
" Caesar or Epaminondas
Could ne'er without names have been known to us,"
it is no less certain that such names as those of the two Tezcucan
princes, so difficult to be pronounced or remembered by a European,
are most unfavorable to immortality.
75 " De las concubinas la que mas privo con el rey fue la que llama-
ban la Sefiora de Tula, no por linage, sino porque era hija de un
mercader, y era tan sabia que competia con el rey y con los mas
sabios de su reyno, y era en la poesia muy aventajada, que con estas
gracias y dones naturales tenia al rey muy sugeto £ su voluntad de
tal manera que lo que queria alcanzaba de el, y asi vivia sola por si
con grande aparato y magestad en unos palacios que el rey le mando
edificar." Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 57.
I*
202 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
youth; and the king, steeling his heart against all
entreaties and the voice of nature, suffered the cruel
judgment to be carried into execution. We might, in
this case, suspect the influence of baser passions on his
mind, but it was not a solitary instance of his inex-
orable justice towards those most near to him. He
had the stern virtue of an ancient Roman, destitute of
the softer graces which make virtue attractive. When
the sentence was carried into effect, he shut himself up
in his palace for many weeks, and commanded the
doors and windows of his son's residence to be walled
up, that it might never again be occupied. 76
Nezahualpilli resembled his father in his passion for
astronomical studies, and is said to have had an ob-
servatory on one of his palaces. 77 He was devoted to
war in his youth, but, as he advanced in years, resigned
himself to a more indolent way of life, and sought his
chief amusement in the pursuit of his favorite science,
or in the soft pleasures of the sequestered gardens of
Tezcotzinco. This quiet life was ill suited to the
turbulent temper of the times, and of his Mexican
rival, Montezuma. The distant provinces fell off from
7 6 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 67. — TheTezcucan historian
records several appalling examples of this severity, — one in particular,
in relation to his guilty wife. The story, reminding one of the tales of
an Oriental harem, has been translated for the Appendix, Part 2, No. 4.
See also Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 66), and Zurita
(Rapport, pp. 108, 109). He was the terror, in particular, of all unjust
magistrates. They had little favor to expect from the man who could
stifle the voice of nature in his own bosom in obedience to the laws.
As Suetonius said of a prince who had not his virtue, " Vehemens et
in coercendis quidem delictis immodicus." Vita Galbse, sec. 9.
77 Torquemada saw the remains of this, or what passed for such, in
his day. Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 64.
ACCOMPLISHED PRINCES.
203
their allegiance ; the army relaxed its discipline ; dis-
affection crept into its ranks ; and the wily Monte-
zuma, partly by violence, and partly by stratagems
unworthy of a king, succeeded in plundering his brother
monarch of some of his most valuable domains. Then
it was that he arrogated to himself the title and su-
premacy of emperor, hitherto borne by the Tezcucan
princes as head of the alliance. Such is the account
given by the historians of that nation, who in this
way explain the acknowledged superiority of the Aztec
sovereign, both in territory and consideration, on the
landing of the Spaniards. 78
These misfortunes pressed heavily on the spirits of
Nezahualpilli. Their effect was increased by certain
gloomy prognostics of a near calamity which was to
overwhelm the country. 79 He withdrew to his retreat,
to brood in secret over his sorrows. His health rapidly
declined; and in the year 15 15, at the age of fifty-
two, he sank into the grave; 80 happy, at least, that
by this timely death he escaped witnessing the fulfil-
ment of his own predictions, in the ruin of his country,
and the extinction of the Indian dynasties forever. 81
7 8 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 73, 74. — This sudden transfer
of empire from the Tezcucans, at the close of the reigns of two of
their ablest monarchs, is so improbable that one cannot but doubt if
they ever possessed it, — at least, to the extent claimed by the patriotic
historian. See ante, chap. 1, note 25, and the corresponding text.
79 Ibid., cap. 72. — The reader will find a particular account of these
prodigies, better authenticated than most miracles, in a future page
of this History.
80 Ibid., cap. 75. — Or, rather, at the age of fifty, if the historian is
right in placing his birth, as he does in a preceding chapter, in 1465.
(See cap. 46.) It is not easy to decide what is true, when the writer
does not take the trouble to be true to himself.
81 His obsequies were celebrated with sanguinary pomp. Two
204 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
In reviewing the brief sketch here presented of the
Tezcucan monarchy, we are strongly impressed with
the conviction of its superiority, in all the great fea-
tures of civilization, over the rest of Anahuac. The
Mexicans showed a similar proficiency, no doubt, in
the mechanic arts, and even in mathematical science.
But in the science of government, in legislation, in
speculative doctrines of a religious nature, in the more
elegant pursuits of poetry, eloquence, and whatever
depended on refinement of taste and a polished idiom,
they confessed themselves inferior, by resorting to their
rivals for instruction and citing their works as the
masterpieces of their tongue. The best histories, the
best poems, the best code of laws, the purest dialect,
were all allowed to be Tezcucan. The Aztecs rivalled
their neighbors in splendor of living, and even in the
magnificence of their structures. They displayed a
pomp and ostentatious pageantry truly Asiatic. But
this was the development of the material rather than
the intellectual principle. They wanted the refinement
of manners essential to a continued advance in civil-
ization. An insurmountable limit was put to theirs
by that bloody mythology which threw its withering
taint over the very air that they breathed.
The superiority of the Tezcucans was owing, doubt-
less, in a great measure to that of the two sovereigns
whose reigns we have been depicting. There is no
hundred male and one hundred female slaves were sacrificed at his
tomb. His body was consumed, amidst a heap of jewels, precious
stuffs, and incense, on a funeral pile ; and the ashes, deposited in a
golden urn, were placed in the great temple of Huitzilopochtli, for
whose worship the king, notwithstanding the lessons of his father,
had some partiality. Ixtlilxochitl.
DECLINE OF THE MONARCHY. 205
position which affords such scope for ameliorating the
condition of man as that occupied by an absolute ruler
over a nation imperfectly civilized. From his elevated
place, commanding all the resources of his age, it is
in his power to diffuse them far and wide among his
people. He may be the copious reservoir on the
mountain-top, drinking in the dews of heaven, to send
them in fertilizing streams along the lower slopes and
valleys, clothing even the wilderness in beauty. Such
were Nezahualcoyotl and his illustrious successor, whose
enlightened policy, extending through nearly a century,
wrought a most salutary revolution in the condition of
their country. It is remarkable that we, the inhab-
itants of the same continent, should be more familiar
with the history of many a barbarian chief, both in the
Old and New World, than with that of these truly
great men, whose names are identified with the most
glorious period in the annals of the Indian races.
What was the actual amount of the Tezcucan civil-
ization it is not easy to determine, with the imperfect
light afforded us. It was certainly far below anything
which the word conveys, measured by a European
standard. In some of the arts, and in any walk of
science, they could only have made, as it were, a be-
ginning. But they had begun in the right way, and
already showed a refinement in sentiment and manners,
a capacity for receiving instruction, which, under good
auspices, might have led them on to indefinite improve-
ment. Unhappily, they were fast falling under the
dominion of the warlike Aztecs. And that people
repaid the benefits received from their more polished
neighbors by imparting to them their own ferocious
Vol. I. 18
206 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
superstition, which, falling like a mildew on the land,
would soon have blighted its rich blossoms of promise
and turned even its fruits to dust and ashes.
Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, who flourished in the beginning of
the sixteenth century * was a native of Tezcuco, and descended in a
direct line from the sovereigns of that kingdom. The royal posterity
became so numerous in a few generations that it was common to see
them reduced to great poverty and earning a painful subsistence by
the most humble occupations. Ixtlilxochitl, who was descended
from the principal wife or queen of Nezahualpilli, maintained a very
respectable position. He filled the office of interpreter to the viceroy,
to which he was recommended by his acquaintance with the ancient
hieroglyphics and his knowledge of the Mexican and Spanish lan-
guages. His birth gave him access to persons of the highest rank
in his own nation, some of whom occupied important civil posts under
the new government, and were thus enabled to make large collections
of Indian manuscripts, which were liberally opened to him. He had
an extensive library of his own, also, and with these means diligently
pursued the study of the Tezcucan antiquities. He deciphered the
hieroglyphics, made himself master of the songs and traditions, and
fortified his narrative by the oral testimony of some very aged persons,
who had themselves been acquainted with the Conquerors. From such
authentic sources he composed various works in the Castilian, on the
primitive history of the Toltec and the Tezcucan races, continuing
it down to the subversion of the empire by Cortes. These various
accounts, compiled under the title of Relaciones, are, more or less,
repetitions and abridgments of each other; nor is it easy to under-
stand why they were thus composed. The Historia Chichimeca is the
best digested and most complete of the whole series, and as such has
been the most frequently consulted for the preceding pages.
Ixtlilxochitl's writings have many of the defects belonging to his
age. He often crowds the page with incidents of a trivial, and some-
* [Ixtlilxochitl wrote in the early part of the seventeenth century.
A certificate which he presented to the viceroy bears the date of
November 18, 1608. The error is apparently a clerical one ; though a
previous passage in the text seems to indicate some confusion on the
author's part. — ED. ]
IXTLILXOCHITL.
207
times improbable, character. The improbability increases with the
distance of the period ; for distance, which diminishes objects to the
natural eye, exaggerates them to the mental. His chronology, as I
have more than once noticed, is inextricably entangled. He has often
lent a too willing ear to traditions and reports which would startle the
more skeptical criticism of the present time. Yet there is an appear-
ance of good faith and simplicity in his writings, which may convince
the reader that when he errs it is from no worse cause than national
partiality. And surely such partiality is excusable in the descendant
of a proud line, shorn of its ancient splendors, which it was soothing
to his own feelings to revive again — though with something more than
their legitimate lustre — on the canvas of history. It should also be
considered that, if his narrative is sometimes startling, his researches
penetrate into the mysterious depths of antiquity, where light and
darkness meet and melt into each other, and where everything is still
further liable to distortion, as seen through the misty medium of hiero-
glyphics.*
With these allowances, it will be found that the Tezcucan historian
has just claims to our admiration for the compass of his inquiries and
the sagacity with which they have been conducted. He has introduced
us to the knowledge of the most polished people of Anahuac, whose
records, if preserved, could not, at a much later period, have been
comprehended ; and he has thus afforded a standard of comparison
which much raises our ideas of American civilization. His language
is simple, and, occasionally, eloquent and touching. His descriptions
are highly picturesque. He abounds in familiar anecdote ; and the
natural graces of his manner, in detailing the more striking events of
history and the personal adventures of his heroes, entitle him to the
name of the Livy of Anahuac.
I shall be obliged to enter hereafter into his literary merits, in con-
nection with the narrative of the Conquest ; for which he is a prominent
authority. His earlier annals — though no one of his manuscripts has
been printed — have been diligently studied by the Spanish writers in
Mexico, and liberally transferred to their pages ; and his reputation,
* [Sefior Ramirez objects to this remark, on the ground that,
however obscure the hieroglyphics may now seem, at the time of
Ixtlilxochitl they were, in his language, "as plain as our letters to
those who were acquainted with them." Notas y Esclarecimientos,
p. 10. — ED.]
208 IXTLILXOCHITL.
like Sahagun's, has doubtless suffered by the process. His Historia
Chichimeca is now turned into French by M. Ternaux - Compans,
forming part of that inestimable series of translations from unpub-
lished documents which have so much enlarged our acquaintance with
the early American history. I have had ample opportunity of proving
the merits of his version of Ixtlilxochitl, and am happy to bear my
testimony to the fidelity and elegance with which it is executed.
NOTE. — It was my intention to conclude this Introductory portion
of the work with an inquiry into the Origin of the Mexican Civiliza-
tion. " But the general question of the origin of the inhabitants of a
continent," says Humboldt, "is beyond the limits prescribed to his-
tory; perhaps it is not even a philosophic question." "For the
majority of readers," says Livy, " the origin and remote antiquities
of a nation can have comparatively little interest." The criticism of
these great writers is just and pertinent ; and, on further consideration,
I have thrown the observations on this topic, prepared with some care,
into the Appendix (Part i) ; to which those who feel sufficient curiosity
in the discussion can turn before entering on the narrative of the
Conquest.
BOOK SECOND.
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
18* ( 209 )
BOOK II.
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
SPAIN UNDER CHARLES V. — PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY. —
COLONIAL POLICY. CONQUEST OF CUBA. — EXPEDI-
TIONS TO YUCATAN.
I516-I518.
In the beginning of the sixteenth century, Spain
occupied perhaps the most prominent position on the
theatre of Europe. The numerous states into which
she had been so long divided were consolidated into
one monarchy. The Moslem crescent, after reigning
there for eight centuries, was no longer seen on her
borders. The authority of the crown did not, as in
later times, overshadow the inferior orders of the state.
The people enjoyed the inestimable privilege of polit-
ical representation, and exercised it with manly inde-
pendence. The nation at large could boast as great a
degree of constitutional freedom as any other, at that
time, in Christendom. Under a system of salutary
laws and an equitable administration, domestic tran-
quillity was secured, public credit established, trade,
manufactures, and even the more elegant arts, began
to flourish ; while a higher education called forth the
(211)
212 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
first blossoms of that literature which was to ripen into
so rich a harvest before the close of the century. Arms
abroad kept pace with arts at home. Spain found her
empire suddenly enlarged by important acquisitions
both in Europe and Africa, while a New World beyond
the waters poured into her lap treasures of countless
wealth and opened an unbounded field for honorable
enterprise.
Such was the condition of the kingdom at the close
of the long and glorious reign of Ferdinand and Isa-
bella, when, on the 23d of January, 15 16, the sceptre
passed into the hands of their daughter Joanna, or
rather their grandson, Charles the Fifth, who alone
ruled the monarchy during the long and imbecile
existence of his unfortunate mother. During the two
years following Ferdinand's death, the regency, in the
absence of Charles, was held by Cardinal Ximenes,
a man whose intrepidity, extraordinary talents, and
capacity for great enterprises were accompanied by a
haughty spirit, which made him too indifferent as to
the means of their execution. His administration,
therefore, notwithstanding the uprightness of his in-
tentions, was, from his total disregard of forms, unfa-
vorable to constitutional liberty ; for respect for forms
is an essential element of freedom. With all his faults,
however, Ximenes was a Spaniard ; and the object he
had at heart was the good of his country.
It was otherwise on the arrival of Charles, who, after
a long absence, came as a foreigner into the land of
his fathers. (November, 15 17.) His manners, sym-
pathies, even his language, were foreign, for he spoke
the Castilian with difficulty. He knew little of his
SPAIN UNDER CHARLES V.
213
native country, of the character of the people or their
institutions. He seemed to care still less for them ;
while his natural reserve precluded that freedom of
communication which might have counteracted, to
some extent, at least, the errors of education. In
everything, in short, he was a foreigner, and resigned
himself to the direction of his Flemish counsellors
with a docility that gave little augury of his future
greatness.
On his entrance into Castile, the young monarch
was accompanied by a swarm of courtly sycophants,
who settled, like locusts, on every place of profit and
honor throughout the kingdom. A Fleming was made
grand chancellor of Castile; another Fleming was
placed in the archiepiscopal see of Toledo. They
even ventured to profane the sanctity of the cortes,
by intruding themselves on its deliberations. Yet that
body did not tamely submit to these usurpations, but
gave vent to its indignation in tones becoming the
representatives of a free people. 1
1 The following passage — one among many — from that faithful
mirror of the times, Peter Martyr's correspondence, does ample jus-
tice to the intemperance, avarice, and intolerable arrogance of the
Flemings. The testimony is worth the more, as coming from one who,
though resident in Spain, was not a Spaniard. " Crumenas auro
fulcire inhiant ; huic uni studio invigilant. Nee detrectat juvenis Rex.
Farcit quacunque posse datur ; non satiat tamen. Quae qualisve sit
gens hasc, depingere adhuc nescio. Insuffiat vulgus hie in omne
genus hominum non arctoum. Minores faciunt Hispanos, quam si
nati essent inter eorum cloacas. Rugiunt jam Hispani, labra mordent,
submurmurant taciti, fatorum vices tales esse conqueruntur, quod ipsi
domitores regnorum ita floccifiant ab his, quorum Deus unicus (sub
rege temperato) Bacchus est cum Citherea." Opus Epistolarum
(Amstelodami, 1610), ep. 608.
214
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
The deportment of Charles, so different from that
to which the Spaniards had been accustomed under
the benign administration of Ferdinand and Isabella,
closed all hearts against him ; and, as his character
came to be understood, instead of the spontaneous
outpourings of loyalty which usually greet the acces-
sion of a new and youthful sovereign, he was every-
where encountered by opposition and disgust. In
Castile, and afterwards in Aragon, Catalonia, and
Valencia, the commons hesitated to confer on him the
title of King during the lifetime of his mother ; and,
though they eventually yielded this point, and asso-
ciated his name with hers in the sovereignty, yet they
reluctantly granted the supplies he demanded, and,
when they did so, watched over their appropriation
with a vigilance which left little to gratify the cupidity
of the Flemings. The language of the legislature on
these occasions, though temperate and respectful,
breathes a spirit of resolute independence not to be
found, probably, on the parliamentary records of any
other nation at that period. No wonder that Charles
should have early imbibed a disgust for these popular
assemblies, — the only bodies whence truths so unpal-
atable could find their way to the ears of the sover-
eign ! 2 Unfortunately, they had no influence on his
conduct ; till the discontent, long allowed to fester in
2 Yet the nobles were not all backward in manifesting their disgust.
When Charles would have conferred the famous Burgundian order of
the Golden Fleece on the Count of Benavente, that lord refused it,
proudly telling him, " I am a Castilian. I desire no honors but those
of my own country, in my opinion quite as good as — indeed, better
than — those of any other." Sandoval, Historia de la Vida y Hechos
del Emperador Carlos V. (Amberes, 1681), torn. i. p. 103.
SPAIN UNDER CHARLES V.
«5
secret, broke out in that sad war of the comunidades,
which shook the state to its foundations and ended in
the subversion of its liberties.*
The same pestilent foreign influence was felt, though
much less sensibly, in the colonial administration.
This had been placed, in the preceding reign, under
the immediate charge of the two great tribunals, the
Council of the Indies, and the Casa de Contratacion,
or India House, at Seville. It was their business to
* [The tone of the preceding paragraphs is that of the Spanish
chroniclers of the seventeenth century, and shows how the author,
despite his natural candor and impartiality of mind, had acquired in-
sensibly the habit of considering questions that affected Spain from
the national point of view of the class of writers with whom his studies
had made him most familiar. Spain is called the "native country"
of Charles V., and the " land of his fathers," although, as hardly any
reader will need to be reminded, he was born in the Netherlands and
was of Spanish descent only on the maternal side. The term " for-
eigner" is applied to him as if it indicated some vicious trait in his
nature ; and the training which he had received as the heir to the
Austro-Burgundian dominions is spoken of as erroneous, merely
because it had not fitted him for a different position. His manners
are contrasted with those of native Spanish sovereigns, as if wanting
in graciousness and affability ; yet the Spaniards, who alone ever
made this complaint, recognized their own ideal of royal demeanor
in that of the taciturn and phlegmatic Philip II. In like manner,
Charles is supposed to have made his first acquaintance with free in-
stitutions on his arrival in Spain ; whereas he had been brought up in
a country where the power of the sovereign was perhaps more closely
restricted by the chartered rights and immunities of the subject than
was the case in any other part of Europe. That the union of Spain
and the Netherlands was a most incongruous one, disastrous to the
freedom, the independence, and the development of both countries,
is undeniable ; but it was not Charles's early partiality for the one, but
his successor's far stronger partiality for the other, which rendered the
incompatibility apparent and led to a rupture of the connection. — En.]
2i6 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
further the progress of discovery, watch over the infant
settlements, and adjust the disputes which grew up in
them. But the licenses granted to private adventurers
did more for the cause of discovery than the patronage
of the crown or its officers. The long peace, enjoyed
with slight interruption by Spain in the early part of
the sixteenth century, was most auspicious for this;
and the restless cavalier, who could no longer win
laurels on the fields of Africa or Europe, turned with
eagerness to the brilliant career opened to him beyond
the ocean.
It is difficult for those of our time, as familiar from
childhood with the most remote places on the globe as
with those in their own neighborhood, to picture to
themselves the feelings of the men who lived in the
sixteenth century. The dread mystery which had so
long hung over the great deep had, indeed, been re-
moved. It was no longer beset with the same unde-
fined horrors as when Columbus launched his bold bark
on its dark and unknown waters. A new and glorious
world had been thrown open. But as to the precise
spot where that world lay, its extent, its history,
whether it were island or continent, — of all this they
had very vague and confused conceptions. Many, in
their ignorance, blindly adopted the erroneous con-
clusion into which the great Admiral had been led by
his superior science, — that the new countries were a
part of Asia ; and, as the mariner wandered among the
Bahamas, or steered his caravel across the Caribbean
Seas, he fancied he was inhaling the rich odors of the
spice-islands in the Indian Ocean. Thus every fresh
discovery, interpreted by this previous delusion, served
COLONIZATION.
217
to confirm him in his error, or, at least, to fill his mind
with new perplexities.
The career thus thrown open had all the fascinations
of a desperate hazard, on which the adventurer staked
all his hopes of fortune, fame, and life itself. It was
not often, indeed, that he won the rich prize which he
most coveted ; but then he was sure to win the meed
of glory, scarcely less dear to his chivalrous spirit;
and, if he survived to return to his home, he had
wonderful stories to recount, of perilous chances among
the strange people he had visited, and the burning
climes whose rank fertility and magnificence of vege-
tation so far surpassed anything he had witnessed in
his own. These reports added fresh fuel to imagina-
tions already warmed by the study of those tales of
chivalry which formed the favorite reading of the
Spaniards at that period. Thus romance and reality
acted on each other, and the soul of the Spaniard was
exalted to that pitch of enthusiasm which enabled him
to encounter the terrible trials that lay in the path of
the discoverer. Indeed, the life of the cavalier of that
day was romance put into action. The story of his
adventures in the New World forms one of the most
remarkable pages in the history of man.
Under this chivalrous spirit of enterprise, the pro-
gress of discovery had extended, by the beginning of
Charles the Fifth's reign, from the Bay of Honduras,
along the winding shores of Darien, and the South
American continent, to the Rio de la Plata. The
mighty barrier of the Isthmus had been climbed, and
the Pacific descried, by Nunez de Balboa, second only
to Columbus in this valiant band of "ocean chivalry."
Vol. I. — k 19
218 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
The Bahamas and Caribbee Islands had been explored,
as well as the Peninsula of Florida on the northern
continent. This latter point had been reached by
Sebastian Cabot in his descent along the coast from
Labrador, in 1497. So that before 15 18, the period
when our narrative begins, the eastern borders of both
the great continents had been surveyed through nearly
their whole extent. The shores of the great Mexican
Gulf, however, sweeping with a wide circuit far into
the interior, remained still concealed, with the rich
realms that lay beyond, from the eye of the navigator.
The time had now come for their discovery.
The business of colonization had kept pace with that
of discovery. In several of the islands, and in various
parts of Terra Firma, and in Darien, settlements had
been established, under the control of governors who
affected the state and authority of viceroys. Grants
of land were assigned to the colonists, on which they
raised the natural products of the soil, but gave still
more attention to the sugar-cane, imported from the
Canaries. Sugar, indeed, together with the beautiful
dye-woods of the country and the precious metals,
formed almost the only articles of export in the in-
fancy of the colonies, which had not yet introduced
those other staples of the West Indian commerce which
in our day constitute its principal wealth. Yet the
precious metals, painfully gleaned from a few scanty
sources, would have made poor returns, but for the
gratuitous labor of the Indians.
The cruel system of refarthnientos, or distribution
of the Indians as slaves among the conquerors, had
been suppressed by Isabella. Although subsequently
DISCOVERY OF CUBA.
219
countenanced by the government, it was under the
most careful limitations. But it is impossible to li-
cense crime by halves, — to authorize injustice at all,
and hope to regulate the measure of it. The eloquent
remonstrances of the Dominicans, — who devoted them-
selves to the good work of conversion in the New
World with the same zeal that they showed for perse-
cution in the Old, — but, above all, those of Las Casas,
induced the regent, Ximenes, to send out a commission
with full powers to inquire into the alleged grievances
and to redress them. It had authority, moreover, to
investigate the conduct of the civil officers, and to
reform any abuses in their administration. This ex-
traordinary commission consisted of three Hieronymite
friars and an eminent jurist, all men of learning and
unblemished piety.
They conducted the inquiry in a very dispassionate
manner, but, after long deliberation, came to a con-
clusion most unfavorable to the demands of Las Casas,
who insisted on the entire freedom of the natives. This
conclusion the)'' justified on the grounds that the In-
dians would not labor without compulsion, and that,
unless they labored, they could not be brought into
communication with the whites, nor be converted to
Christianity. Whatever we may think of this argu-
ment, it was doubtless urged with sincerity by its
advocates, whose conduct through their whole admin-
istration places their motives above suspicion. They
accompanied it with many careful provisions for the
protection of the natives. But in vain. The simple
people, accustomed all their days to a life of indolence
and ease, sank under the oppressions of their masters,
220 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
and the population wasted away with even more fright-
ful rapidity than did the aborigines in our own country
under the operation of other causes. It is not neces-
sary to pursue these details further, into which I have
been led by the desire to put the reader in posses-
sion of the general policy and state of affairs in the
New World at the period when the present narrative
begins. 3
Of the islands, Cuba was the second discovered ; but
no attempt had been made to plant a colony there
during the lifetime of Columbus, who, indeed, after
skirting the whole extent of its southern coast, died in
the conviction that it was part of the continent. 4 At
length, in 15 n, Diego, the son and successor of the
"Admiral," who still maintained the seat of govern-
ment in Hispaniola, finding the mines much exhausted
there, proposed to occupy the neighboring island of
Cuba, or Fernandina, as it was called in compliment
to the Spanish monarch. 5 He prepared a small force
3 I will take the liberty to refer the reader who is desirous of being
more minutely acquainted with the Spanish colonial administration
and the state of discovery previous to Charles V., to the " History of
the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella" (Part 2, ch. 9, 26), where the
subject is treated in extcnso*
4 See the curious document attesting this, and drawn up by order
of Columbus, ap. Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y de Descubri-
mientos (Madrid, 1825), torn. ii. Col. Dip., No. 76.
5 The island was originally called by Columbus Juana, in honor of
* [All the documents relative to the commission sent out by
Ximenes, including many reports from the commissioners, have been
printed in the Col. de Doc. ined. relativos al Descubrimiento, Con-
quista y Colonizacion de las Posesiones espafiolas en America y Oce-
ania, torn. i. — Ed.]
CONQUEST OF CUBA. 2 2i
for the conquest, which he placed under the command
of Don Diego Velasquez ; a man described by a con-
temporary as "possessed of considerable experience in
military affairs, having served seventeen years in the
European wars; as honest, illustrious by his lineage
and reputation, covetous of glory, and somewhat more
covetous of wealth." 6 The portrait was sketched by
no unfriendly hand.
Velasquez, or rather his lieutenant, Narvaez, who
took the office on himself of scouring the country, met
with no serious opposition from the inhabitants, who
were of the same family with the effeminate natives of
Hispaniola. The conquest, through the merciful inter-
position of Las Casas, "the protector of the Indians,"
who accompanied the army in its march, was effected
without much bloodshed. One chief, indeed, named
Hatuey, having fled originally from St. Domingo to
escape the oppression of its invaders, made a desperate
resistance, for which he was condemned by Velasquez
to be burned alive. It was he who made that memor-
able reply, more eloquent than a volume of invective.
When urged at the stake to embrace Christianity, that
his soul might find admission into heaven, he inquired
if the white men would go there. On being answered
in the affirmative, he exclaimed, "Then I will not be
Prince John, heir to the Castilian crown. After his death it received
the name of Fernandina, at the king's desire. The Indian name has
survived both. Herrera, Hist, general, Descrip., cap. 6.
6 " Erat Didacus, ut hoc in loco de eo semel tantum dicamus, vete-
ranus miles, rei militaris gnarus, quippe qui septem et decern annos
in Hispania militiam exercitus fuerat, homo probus, opibus, genere et
fama clarus, honoris cupidus, pecuniae aliquanto cupidior." De Re-
bus gestis Ferdinandi Cortesii, MS.
19*
222 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
a Christian ; for I would not go again to a place where
I must find men so cruel ! " 7
After the conquest, Velasquez, now appointed gov-
ernor, diligently occupied himself with measures for
promoting the prosperity of the island. He formed a
number of settlements, bearing the same names with
the modern towns, and made St. Jago, on the south-
east corner, the seat of government. 8 He invited
settlers by liberal grants of land and slaves. He en-
couraged them to cultivate the soil, and gave particular
attention to the sugar-cane, so profitable an article of
commerce in later times. He was, above all, intent
on working the gold-mines, which promised better re-
turns than those in Hispaniola. The affairs of his
government did not prevent him, meanwhile, from
casting many a wistful glance at the discoveries going
forward on the continent, and he longed for an oppor-
tunity to embark in these golden adventures himself.
Fortune gave him the occasion he desired.
An hidalgo of Cuba, named Hernandez de Cordova,
sailed with three vessels on an expedition to one of the
neighboring Bahama Islands, in quest of Indian slaves.
(February 8, 15 17.) He encountered a succession of
heavy gales which drove him far out of his course, and
7 The story is told by Las Casas in his appalling record of the cruel-
ties of his countrymen in the New World, which charity — and com-
mon sense — may excuse us for believing the good father has greatly
overcharged. Brevissima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias
(Venetia, 1643), p. 28.
8 Among the most ancient of these establishments we find the
Havana, Puerto del Principe, Trinidad, St. Salvador, and Matanzas,
or the Slaughter, so called from a massacre of the Spaniards there by
the Indians. Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 8.
EXPEDITIONS TO YUCATAN.
223
at the end of three weeks he found himself on a strange
and unknown coast. On landing and asking the name
of the country, he was answered by the natives, " Tec-
tetan" meaning "I do not understand you," — but
which the Spaniards, misinterpreting into the name of
the place, easily corrupted into Yucatan. Some writers
give a different etymology. 9 Such mistakes, however,
were not uncommon with the early discoverers, and
have been the origin of many a name on the American
continent.'
Cordova had landed on the northeastern end of the
peninsula, at Cape Catoche. He was astonished at the
size and solid materials of the buildings, constructed of
stone and lime, so different from the frail tenements of
reeds and rushes which formed the habitations of the
islanders. He was struck, also, with the higher culti-
vation of the soil, and with the delicate texture of the
cotton garments and gold ornaments of the natives.
Everything indicated a civilization far superior to any
thing he had before witnessed in the New World. He
saw the evidence of a different race, moreover, in the
warlike spirit of the people. Rumors of the Spaniards
had, perhaps, preceded them, as they were repeatedly
9 Gomara, Historia de las Indias, cap. 52, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. — Ber-
nal Diaz says the word came from the vegetable yuca, and tale the
name for a hillock in which it is planted. (Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 6.) M. Waldeck finds a much more plausible derivation in the
Indian word Ouyouckatan, " listen to what they say." Voyage pitto-
resque, p. 25.
10 Two navigators, Soils and Pinzon, had descried the coast as far
back as 1506, according to Herrera, though they had not taken pos-
session of it. (Hist, general, dec. I, lib. 6, cap. 17.) It is, indeed,
remarkable it should so long have eluded discovery, considering that
it is but two degrees distant from Cuba.
224
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
asked if they came from the east ; and, wherever they
landed, they were met with the most deadly hostility.
Cordova himself, in one of his skirmishes with the
Indians, received more than a dozen wounds, and one
only of his party escaped unhurt. At length, when
he had coasted the peninsula as far as Campeachy, he
returned to Cuba, which he reached after an absence
of several months, having suffered all the extremities of
ill which these pioneers of the ocean were sometimes
called to endure, and which none but the most coura-
geous spirit could have survived. As it was, half the
original number, consisting of one hundred and ten
men, perished, including their brave commander, who
died soon after his return. The reports he had brought
back of the country, and, still more, the specimens of
curiously wrought gold, convinced Velasquez of the
importance of this discovery, and he prepared with all
despatch to avail himself of it."
He accordingly fitted out a little squadron of four
vessels for the newly-discovered lands, and placed it
under the command of his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, a
man on whose probity, prudence, and attachment to
himself he knew he could rely. The fleet left the port
of St. Jago de Cuba, May i, 1518." It took the course
" Oviedo, General y natural Historia de las Indias, MS., lib. 33,
cap. 1. — De Rebus gestis, MS. — Carta del Cabildo de Vera Cruz
(July 10, 1519), MS. — Bernal Diaz denies that the original object of
the expedition, in which he took part, was to procure slaves, though
Velasquez had proposed it. (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 2.) But he
is contradicted in this by the other contemporary records above cited.
12 Itinerario de la Isola de Iuchathan, novamente ritrovata per il
Signor Joan de Grijalva, per ilsuo Capellano, MS. — The chaplain's word
may be taken for the date, which is usually put at the eighth of April.
EXPEDITIONS TO YUCATAN. 225
pursued by Cordova, but was driven somewhat to the
south, the first land that it made being the island of
Cozumel. From this quarter Grijalva soon passed over
to the continent, and coasted the peninsula, touching
at the same places as his predecessor. Everywhere he
was struck, like him, with the evidences of a higher
civilization, especially in the architecture ; as he well
might be, since this was the region of those extraor-
dinary remains which have become recently the sub-
ject of so much speculation. He was astonished, also,
at the sight of large stone crosses, evidently objects of
worship, which he met with in various places. Re-
minded by these circumstances of his own country, he
gave the peninsula the name of " New Spain," a name
since appropriated to a much wider extent of territory. 13
Wherever Grijalva landed, he experienced the same
unfriendly reception as Cordova; though he suffered
less, being better prepared to meet it. In the Rio de
Tabasco, or Grijalva, as it is often called, after him,
he held an amicable conference with a chief who gave
him a number of gold plates fashioned into a sort of
armor. As he wound round the Mexican coast, one
of his captains, Pedro de Alvarado, afterwards famous
in the Conquest, entered a river, to which he, also,
left his own name. In a neighboring stream, called
the Rio de Vanderas, or "River of Banners," from the
ensigns displayed by the natives on its borders, Gri-
jalva had the first communication with the Mexicans
themselves.
The cacique who ruled over this province had re-
ceived notice of the approach of the Europeans, and
*3 De Rebus gestis, MS. — Itineraries del Capellano, MS.
226 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
of their extraordinary appearance. He was anxious to
collect all the information he could respecting them
and the motives of their visit, that he might transmit
them to his master, the Aztec emperor. 14 A friendly
conference took place between the parties on shore,
where Grijalva landed with all his force, so as to make
a suitable impression on the mind of the barbaric chief.
The interview lasted some hours, though, as there was
no one on either side to interpret the language of the
other, they could communicate only by signs. They,
however, interchanged presents, and the Spaniards had
the satisfaction of receiving, for a few worthless toys
and trinkets, a rich treasure of jewels, gold ornaments
and vessels, of the most fantastic forms and workman-
ship. 13
Grijalva now thought that in this successful traffic —
successful beyond his most sanguine expectations — he
had accomplished the chief object of his mission. He
steadily refused the solicitations of his followers to
plant a colony on the spot, — a work of no little diffi-
culty in so populous and powerful a country as this
appeared to be. To this, indeed, he was inclined, but
deemed it contrary to his instructions, which limited
him to barter with the natives. He therefore despatched
M According to the Spanish authorities, the cacique was sent with
these presents from the Mexican sovereign, who had received previous
tidings of the approach of the Spaniards. I have followed Sahagun,
who obtained his intelligence directly from the natives. Historia de
la Conquista, MS., cap. 2.
*5 Gomara has given the per and contra of this negotiation, in which
gold and jewels of the value of fifteen or twenty thousand pesos de
oro were exchanged for glass beads, pins, scissors, and other trinkets
common in an assorted cargo for savages. Cr6nica, cap. 6.
EXPEDITIONS TO YUCATAN.
227
Alvarado in one of the caravels back to Cuba, with the
treasure and such intelligence as he had gleaned of the
great empire in the interior, and then pursued his
voyage along the coast.
He touched at San Juan de Ulua, and at the Isla dc
los Sacrificios, so called by him from the bloody re-
mains of human victims found in one of the temples.
He then held on his course as far as the province of
Panuco, where, finding some difficulty in doubling a
boisterous headland, he returned on his track, and,
after an absence of nearly six months, reached Cuba in
safety. Grijalva has the glory of being the first navi-
gator who set foot on the Mexican, soil and opened an
intercourse with the Aztecs. 16
On reaching the island, he was surprised to learn
that another and more formidable armament had been
fitted out to follow up his own discoveries, and to find
orders, at the same time, from the governor, couched
in no very courteous language, to repair at once to St.
Jago. He was received by that personage not merely
with coldness, but with reproaches for having neglected
so fair an opportunity of establishing a colony in the
country he had visited. Velasquez was one of those
captious spirits who, when things do not go exactly to
their minds, are sure to shift the responsibility of the
failure from their own shoulders, where it should lie,
to those of others. He had an ungenerous nature,
says an old writer, credulous, and easily moved to
suspicion. 17 In the present instance it was most
16 Itinerario del Capellano, MS. — Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.
J 7 " Hombre de terrible condition," says Herrera, citing the good
Bishop of Chiapa, " para los que le Servian, i aiudaban, i que facil-
228 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
unmerited. Grijalva, naturally a modest, unassuming
person, had acted in obedience to the instructions of
his commander, given before sailing, and had done
this in opposition to his own judgment and the impor-
tunities of his followers. His conduct merited any-
thing but censure from his employer. 18
When Alvarado had returned to Cuba with his golden
freight, and the accounts of the rich empire of Mexico
which he had gathered from the natives, the heart of
the governor swelled with rapture as he saw his dreams
of avarice and ambition so likely to be realized. Im-
patient of the long absence of Grijalva, he despatched
a vessel in search of him under the command of Olid,
a cavalier who took an important part afterwards in the
Conquest. Finally he resolved to fit out another arma-
ment on a sufficient scale to insure the subjugation of
the country.
He previously solicited authority for this from the
Hieronymite commission in St. Domingo. He then
despatched his chaplain to Spain with the royal share
of the gold brought from Mexico, and a full account
of the intelligence gleaned there. He set forth his
own manifold services, and solicited from the court full
powers to go on with the conquest and colonization of
the newly-discovered regions. 19 Before receiving an
mente se indignaba contra aquellos." Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 3,
cap. 10.
18 At least, such is the testimony of Las Casas, who knew both the
parties well, and had often conversed with Grijalva upon his voyage.
Historia general de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 113.
x 9 Itinerario del Capellano, MS. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. 3, cap. 113. — The most circumstantial account of Grijalva's
expedition is to be found in the Itinerary of his chaplain above quoted.
EXPEDITIONS TO YUCATAN.
229
answer, he began his preparations for the armament,
and, first of all, endeavored to find a suitable person to
share the expense of it and to take the command. Such
a person he found, after some difficulty and delay, in
Hernando Cortes ; the man of all others best calculated
to achieve this great enterprise, — the last man to whom
Velasquez, could he have foreseen the results, would
have confided it.
The original is lost, but an indifferent Italian version was published at
Venice in 1522. A copy, which belonged to Ferdinand Columbus, is
still extant in the library of the great church of Seville. The book
had become so exceedingly rare, however, that the historiographer
Mufloz made a transcript of it with his own hand; and from his
manuscript that in my possession was taken.
Vol. I.
CHAPTER II.
HERNANDO CORTES. — HIS EARLY LIFE. — VISITS THE NEW-
WORLD. — HIS RESIDENCE IN CUBA. DIFFICULTIES
WITH VELASQUEZ. — ARMADA INTRUSTED TO CORTES.
I5I8.
Hernando Cortes was born at Medellin, a town in
the southeast corner of Estremadura, 1 in 1485. 3 He
came of an ancient and respectable family; and histo-
rians have gratified the national vanity by tracing it up
to the Lombard kings, whose descendants crossed the
Pyrenees and established themselves in Aragon under
the Gothic monarchy. 3 This royal genealogy was not
1 [The house in which he was bom, in the Calle de la Feria, was
preserved until the present century, and many a traveller has lodged
there, desirous, says Alaman, of sleeping in the mansion where the
hero was born. In the year 1809 the building was destroyed by the
French, and only a few fragments of wall now remain to commemo-
rate the birthplace of the Conqueror. Alaman, Disertaciones historicas,
torn. ii. p. 2.]
2 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 1. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 203. I find no more precise notice of the date of his birth,
except, indeed, by Pizarro y Orellana, who tells us " that Cortes came
into the world the same day that that itifernal beast, the false heretic
Luther, entered it, — by way of compensation, no doubt, since the
labors of the one to pull down the true faith were counterbalanced by
those of the other to maintain and extend it" ! (Varones ilustres del
Nuevo-Mundo (Madrid, 1639), p. 66.) But this statement of the good
cavalier, which places the birth of our hero in 1483, looks rather more
like a zeal for " the true faith" than for historic.
3 Argensola, in particular, has bestowed great pains on the prosapia
( 230 )
HERNANDO CORTES. 231
found out till Cortes had acquired a name which would
confer distinction on any descent, however noble. His
father, Martin Cortes de Monroy, was a captain of
infantry, in moderate circumstances, but a man of
unblemished honor ; and both he and his wife, Dona
Catalina Pizarro Altamirano, appear to have been much
regarded for their excellent qualities. 4
In his infancy Cortes is said to have had a feeble
constitution, which strengthened as he grew older. 5
At fourteen, he was sent to Salamanca, as his father,
who conceived great hopes from his quick and showy
parts, proposed to educate him for the law, a profes-
sion which held out better inducements to the young
aspirant than any other. The son, however, did not
conform to these views. He showed little fondness for
books, and, after loitering away two years at college,
returned home, to the great chagrin of his parents.
Yet his time had not been wholly misspent, since he
had laid up a little store of Latin, and learned to write
good prose, and even verses "of some estimation,
of the house of Cortes ; which he traces up, nothing doubting, to
Names Cortes, king of Lombardy and Tuscany. Anales de Aragon
(Zaragoza, 1630), pp. 621-625. — Also, Caro de Torres, Historia de las
Ordenes militares (Madrid, 1629), fol. 103.
4 De Rebus gestis, MS. — Las Casas, who knew the father, bears
stronger testimony to his poverty than to his noble birth. " Un escu-
dero," he says of him, " que yo conoci harto pobre y humilde, aunque
cristiano, viejo / dizen que hidalgo." Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib.
3, cap. 27.
5 [His parents had cast lots to decide which of the apostles should
be chosen as his patron saint. The lot fell upon Peter, which explains
the especial devotion which Cortes professed, through his whole life,
to that saint, to whose watchful care he attributed the improvement in
his health. Alaman, Disertaciones historicas, torn. ii. p. 4,]
232
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
considering" — as an old writer quaintly remarks —
"Cortes as the author." 6 He now passed his days
in the idle, unprofitable manner of one who, too
wilful to be guided by others, proposes no object to
himself. His buoyant spirits were continually break-
ing out in troublesome frolics and capricious humors,
quite at variance with the orderly habits of his father's
household. He showed a particular inclination for the
military profession, or rather for the life of adventure
to which in those days it was sure to lead. And when,
at the age of seventeen, he proposed to enroll himself
under the banners of the Great Captain, his parents,
probably thinking a life of hardship and hazard abroad
preferable to one of idleness at home, made no objec-
tion.
The youthful cavalier, however, hesitated whether
to seek his fortunes under that victorious chief, or in
the New World, where gold as well as glory was to be
won, and where the very dangers had a mystery and
romance in them inexpressibly fascinating to a youthful
fancy. It was in this direction, accordingly, that the
hot spirits of that day found a vent, especially from
that part of the country where Cortes lived, the neigh-
borhood of Seville and Cadiz, the focus of nautical
enterprise. He decided on this latter course, and an
opportunity offered in the splendid armament fitted
out under Don Nicolas de Ovando, successor to Co-
6 Argensola, Anales, p. 220. — Las Casas and Bernal Diaz both state
that he was Bachelor of Laws at Salamanca. (Hist, de las Indias,
MS., ubi supra. — Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 203.) The degree was
given probably in later life, when the University might feel a pride in
claiming him among her sons.
VISITS THE NEW WORLD.
2 33
lumbus. An unlucky accident defeated the purpose
of Cortes. 7
As he was scaling a high wall, one night, which gave
him access to the apartment of a lady with whom he
was engaged in an intrigue, the stones gave way, and
he was thrown down with much violence and buried
under the ruins. A severe contusion, though attended
with no other serious consequences, confined him to
his bed till after the departure of the fleet. 8
Two years longer he remained at home, profiting
little, as it would seem, from the lesson he had received.
At length he availed himself of another opportunity
presented by the departure of a small squadron of ves-
sels bound to the Indian islands. He was nineteen
years of age when he bade adieu to his native shores
in 1504, — the same year in which Spain lost the best
and greatest in her long line of princes, Isabella the
Catholic.
The vessel in which Cortes sailed was commanded
by one Alonso Quintero. The fleet touched at the
Canaries, as was common in the outward passage.
While the other vessels were detained there taking in
supplies, Quintero secretly stole out by night from the
island, with the design of reaching Hispaniola and
securing the market before the arrival of his com-
panions. A furious storm which he encountered, how-
ever, dismasted his ship, and he was obliged to return
to port and refit. The convoy consented to wait for
7 De Rebus gestis, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 1.
8 De Rebus gestis, MS. — Gomara, Ibid. — Argensola states the cause
of his detention concisely enough : " Suspendid el v\a.]e.,porenamorado
y por quartanario'' Anales, p. 621.
234 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
their unworthy partner, and after a short detention
they all sailed in company again. But the faithless
Quintero, as they drew near the Islands, availed him-
self once more of the darkness of the night, to leave
the squadron with the same purpose as before. Un-
luckily for him, he met with a succession of heavy
gales and head-winds, which drove him from his course,
and he wholly lost his reckoning. For many days the
vessel was tossed about, and all on board were filled
with apprehensions, and no little indignation against
the author of their calamities. At length they were
cheered one morning with the sight of a white dove,
which, wearied by its flight, lighted on the topmast.
The biographers of Cortes speak of it as a miracle. 9
Fortunately it was no miracle, but a very natural occur-
rence, showing incontestably that they were near land.
In a short time, by taking the direction of the bird's
flight, they reached the island of Hispaniola ; and, on
coming into port, the worthy master had the satis-
faction to find his companions arrived before him, and
their cargoes already sold. 10
Immediately on landing, Cortes repaired to the
house of the governor, to whom he had been personally
known in Spain. Ovando was absent on an expedition
into the interior, but the young man was kindly received
by the secretary, who assured him there would be no
9 Some thought it was the Holy Ghost in the form of this dove:
" Sanctum esse Spiritum, qui, in illius alitis specie, ut moestos et afflictos
solaretur, venire erat dignatus " (De Rebus gestis, MS.) ; a conjecture
which seems very reasonable to Pizarro y Orellana, since the expedi-
tion was to " redound so much to the spread of the Catholic faith,
and the Castilian monarchy" ! Varones ilustres, p. 70.
10 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 2.
SOJOURN IN CUBA. 235
doubt of his obtaining a liberal grant of land to settle
on. "But I came to get gold," replied Cortes, "not
to till the soil, like a peasant."
On the governor's return, Cortes consented to give
up his roving thoughts, at least for a time, as the other
labored to convince him that he would be more likely
to realize his wishes from the slow, indeed, but sure,
returns of husbandry, where the soil and the laborers
were a free gift to the planter, than by taking his
chance in the lottery of adventure, in which there
were so many blanks to a prize. He accordingly re-
ceived a grant of land, with a repartimiento of Indians,
and was appointed notary of the town or settlement
of Acua. His graver pursuits, however, did not pre-
vent his indulgence of the amorous propensities which
belong to the sunny clime where he was born ; and
this frequently involved him in affairs of honor, from
which, though an expert swordsman, he carried away
scars that accompanied him to his grave. 11 He occa-
sionally, moreover, found the means of breaking up
the monotony of his way of life by engaging in the
military expeditions which, under the command of
Ovando's lieutenant, Diego Velasquez, were employed
to suppress the insurrections of the natives. In this
school the young adventurer first studied the wild
tactics of Indian warfare ; he became familiar with
toil and danger, and with those deeds of cruelty which
have too often, alas ! stained the bright scutcheons
of the Castilian chivalry in the New World. He was
only prevented by illness — a most fortunate one, on this
occasion — from embarking in Nicuessa's expedition,
11 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 203.
236 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
which furnished a tale of woe not often matched in
the annals of Spanish discovery. Providence reserved
him for higher ends.
At length, in 15 11, when Velasquez undertook the
conquest of Cuba, Cortds willingly abandoned his
quiet life for the stirring scenes there opened, and took
part in the expedition. He displayed, throughout the
invasion, an activity and courage that won him the
approbation of the commander ; while his free and
cordial manners, his good humor and lively sallies of
wit, made him the favorite of the soldiers. " He gave
little evidence," says a contemporary, "of the great
qualities which he afterwards showed. " It is probable
these qualities were not known to himself; while to a
common observer his careless manners and jocund
repartees might well seem incompatible with anything
serious or profound ; as the real depth of the current
is not suspected under the light play and sunny spark-
ling of the surface. 12
After the reduction of the island, Cortes seems to
have been held in great favor by Velasquez, now ap-
pointed its governor. According to Las Casas, he was
made one of his secretaries. 13 He still retained the
same fondness for gallantry, for which his handsome
person afforded obvious advantages, but which had
more than once brought him into trouble in earlier life.
Among the families who had taken up their residence
12 De Rebus gestis, MS. — Gomara, Cr6nica, cap. 3, 4. — Las Casas,
Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 27.
'3 Hist, de las Indias, MS., loc. cit. — " Res omnes arduas diffici-
losque per Cortesium, quern in dies magis magisque amplectebatur,
Velasquius agit. Ex eo ducis favore et gratia magna Cortesio invidia
est orta." De Rebus gestis, MS.
DIFFICULTIES WITH VELASQUEZ. 237
in Cuba was one of the name of Xuarez, from Granada
in Old Spain. It consisted of a brother, and four
sisters remarkable for their beauty. With one of them,
named Catalina, the susceptible heart of the young
soldier became enamored. 14 How far the intimacy was
carried is not quite certain. But it appears he gave
his promise to marry her, — a promise which, when the
time came, and reason, it may be, had got the better
of passion, he showed no alacrity in keeping. He
resisted, indeed, all remonstrances to this effect, from
the lady's family, backed by the governor, and some-
what sharpened, no doubt, in the latter by the par-
ticular interest he took in one of the fair sisters, who
is said not to have repaid it with ingratitude.
Whether the rebuke of Velasquez or some other
cause of disgust rankled in the breast of Cortes, he
now became cold towards his patron, and connected
himself with a disaffected party tolerably numerous in
the island. They were in the habit of meeting at his
house and brooding over their causes of discontent,
chiefly founded, it would appear, on what they con-
ceived an ill requital of their services in the distribu-
tion of lands and offices. It may well be imagined
that it could have been no easy task for the ruler of
one of these colonies, however discreet and well in-
tentioned, to satisfy the indefinite cravings of specu-
lators and adventurers, who swarmed, like so many
M Sob's has found a patent of nobility for this lady also, — " doncella
noble y recatada." (Historia de la Conquista de Mejico (Paris, 1S38),
lib. 1, cap. 9.) Las Casas treats her with less ceremony: " Una her-
mana de un Juan Xuarez, gente pobre," Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib.
3, cap. 17.
238 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
famished harpies, in the track of discovery in the New
World. 1 *
The malecontents determined to lay their grievances
before the higher authorities in Hispaniola, from whom
Velasquez had received his commission. The voyage
was one of some hazard, as it was to be made in an
open boat, across an arm of the sea eighteen leagues
wide ; and they fixed on Cortes, with whose fearless
spirit they were well acquainted, as the fittest man to
undertake it. The conspiracy got wind, and came to
the governor's ears before the departure of the envoy,
whom he instantly caused to be seized, loaded with
fetters, and placed in strict confinement. It is even
said he would have hung him, but for the interposition
of his friends. 16 The fact is not incredible. The
governors of these little territories, having entire con-
trol over the fortunes of their subjects, enjoyed an
authority far more despotic than that of the sovereign
himself. They were generally men of rank and per-
sonal consideration ; their distance from the mother-
country withdrew their conduct from searching scrutiny,
and, when that did occur, they usually had interest and
means of corruption at command sufficient to shield
them from punishment. The Spanish colonial history,
in its earlier stages, affords striking instances of the
extraordinary assumption and abuse of powers by these
petty potentates ; and the sad fate of Vasquez Nunez
de Balboa, the illustrious discoverer of the Pacific,
J S Gomara, Cronica, cap. 4. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS.,
ubi supra. — De Rebus gestis, MS. — Memorial de Benito Martinez,
Capellan de D. Velasquez, contra H. Cortes, MS.
16 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., ubi supra.
DIFFICULTIES WITH VELASQUEZ. 239
though the most signal, is by no means a solitary ex-
ample, that the greatest services could be requited by
persecution and an ignominious death.
The governor of Cuba, however, although irascible
and suspicious in his nature, does not seem to have
been vindictive, nor particularly cruel. In the present
instance, indeed, it may well be doubted whether the
blame would not be more reasonably charged on the
unfounded expectations of his followers than on him-
self.
Cortes did not long remain in durance. He con-
trived to throw back one of the bolts of his fetters, and,
after extricating his limbs, succeeded in forcing open a
window with the irons so as to admit of his escape. He
was lodged on the second floor of the building, and
was able to let himself down to the pavement without
injury, and unobserved. He then made the best of
his way to a neighboring church, where he claimed the
privilege of sanctuary.
Velasquez, though incensed at his escape, was afraid
to violate the sanctity of the place by employing force.
But he stationed a guard in the neighborhood, with
orders to seize the fugitive if he should forget himself
so far as to leave the sanctuary. In a few days this
happened. As Cortes was carelessly standing without
the walls in front of the building, an alguacil suddenly
sprang on him from behind and pinioned his arms,
while others rushed in and secured him. This man,
whose name was Juan Escudero, was afterwards hung
by Cortes for some offence in New Spain. 17
x 7 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS.,loc. cit. — Memorial de Mar-
tinez, MS.
240
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
The unlucky prisoner was again put in irons, and
carried on board a vessel to sail the next morning for
Hispaniola, there to undergo his trial. Fortune favored
him once more. He succeeded, after much difficulty
and no little pain, in passing his feet through the rings
which shackled them. He then came cautiously on
deck, and, covered by the darkness of the night, stole
quietly down the side of the ship into a boat that lay
floating below. He pushed off from the vessel with as
little noise as possible. As he drew near the shore,
the stream became rapid and turbulent. He hesitated
to trust his boat to it, and, as he was an excellent
swimmer, prepared to breast it himself, and boldly
plunged into the water. The current was strong, but
the arm of a man struggling for life was stronger ; and,
after buffeting the waves till he was nearly exhausted,
he succeeded in gaining a landing ; when he sought
refuge in the same sanctuary which had protected him
before. The facility with which Cortes a second time
effected his escape may lead one to doubt the fidelity
of his guards ; who perhaps looked on him as the
victim of persecution, and felt the influence of those
popular manners which seem to have gained him friends
in every society into which he was thrown. 18
For some reason not explained, — perhaps from policy,
— he now relinquished his objections to the marriage
with Catalina Xuarez. He thus secured the good
offices of her family. Soon afterwards the governor
himself relented, and became reconciled to his un-
18 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 4. — Herrera tells a silly story of his being
unable to swim, and throwing himself on a plank, which, after being
carried out to sea, was washed ashore with him at flood tide. Hist,
general, dec. i, lib. 9, cap. 8.
RECONCILIATION WITH VELASQUEZ. 241
fortunate enemy. A strange story is told in connec-
tion with this event. It is said his proud spirit refused
to accept the proffers of reconciliation made him by
Velasquez ; and that one evening, leaving the sanctu-
ary, he presented himself unexpectedly before the latter
in his own quarters, when on a military excursion at
some distance from the capital. The governor, startled
by the sudden apparition of his enemy completely armed
before him, with some dismay inquired the meaning of
it. Cortes answered by insisting on a full explanation
of his previous conduct. After some hot discussion
the interview terminated amicably; the parties em-
braced, and, when a messenger arrived to announce
the escape of Cortes, he found him in the apartments
of his Excellency, where, having retired to rest, both
were actually sleeping in the same bed ! The anecdote
is repeated without distrust by more than one biogra-
pher of Cortes. 19 It is not very probable, however,
that a haughty, irascible man like Velasquez should
have given such uncommon proofs of condescension
and familiarity to one, so far beneath him in station,
with whom he had been so recently in deadly feud ;
nor, on the other hand, that Cortes should have had
the silly temerity to brave the lion in his den, where a
single nod would have sent him to the gibbet, — and
that, too, with as little compunction or fear of conse-
quences as would have attended the execution of an
Indian slave. 20
J 9 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 4. — " Coenat cubatque Cortesius cum
Velasquio eodem in lecto. Qui postero die fugas Cortesii nuntius
venerat, Velasquium et Cortesium juxta accubantes intuitus, miratur."
De Rebus gestis, MS.
20 Las Casas, who remembered Cortes at this time "so poor and
VOL. I. — L 21
242 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
The reconciliation with the governor, however
brought about, was permanent. Cortes, though not
re-established in the office of secretary, received a lib-
eral repartimiento of Indians, and an ample territory in
the neighborhood of St. Jago, of which he was soon
after made alcalde. He now lived almost wholly on his
estate, devoting himself to agriculture with more zeal
than formerly. He stocked his plantation with differ-
ent kinds of cattle, some of which were first introduced
by him into Cuba. 21 He wrought, also, the gold-mines
which fell to his share, and which in this island promised
better returns than those in Hispaniola. By this course
of industry he found himself, in a few years, master of
some two or three thousand castellanos, a large sum for
one in his situation. " God, who alone knows at what
cost of Indian lives it was obtained," exclaims Las
Casas, "will take account of it !" 22 His days glided
smoothly away in these tranquil pursuits, and in the
society of his beautiful wife, who, however ineligible
as a connection, from the inferiority of her condition,
appears to have fulfilled all the relations of a faithful
and affectionate partner. Indeed, he was often heard
to say at this time, as the good bishop above quoted
lowly that he would have gladly received any favor from the least of
Velasquez" attendants," treats the story of the bravado with contempt.
" Por lo qual si el [Velasquez] sintiera de Cortes unapuncta de alfiler
de cerviguillo 6 presuncion, 6 lo ahorcara 6 a lo menos lo echara de
la tierra y lo sumiera en ella sin que alzara cabeza en su vida." Hist,
de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 27.
21 " Pecuariam primus quoque habuit, in insulamque induxit, omni
pecorum genere ex Hispania petito." De Rebus gestis, MS.
22 " Los que por sacarle el oro murieron Dios abrd tenido mejor
cuenta que yo." Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 27. The text
is a free translation.
AHMAD A INTRUSTED TO CORTES.
243
remarks, " that he lived as 'happily with her as if she
had been the daughter of a duchess." Fortune gave
him the means in after-life of verifying the truth of his
assertion. 33
Such was the state of things, when Alvarado re-
turned with the tidings of Grijalva's discoveries and
the rich fruits of his traffic with the natives. The
news spread like wildfire throughout the island ; for all
saw in it the promise of more important results than
any hitherto obtained. The governor, as already
noticed, resolved to follow up the track of discovery
with a more considerable armament ; and he looked
around for a proper person to share the expense of it
and to take the command.
Several hidalgos presented themselves, whom, from
want of proper qualifications, or from his distrust of
their assuming an independence of their employer, he,
one after another, rejected. There were two persons
in St. Jago in whom he placed great confidence, —
Amador de Lares, the contador, or royal treasurer, 24
and his own secretary, Andres de Duero. Cortes was
also in close intimacy with both these persons ; and he
availed himself of it to prevail on them to recommend
him as a suitable person to be intrusted with the ex-
pedition. It is said he reinforced the proposal by
=3 " Estando conmigo, me lo dixo que estava tan contento con ella
corao si fuera hija de una Duquessa." Hist, de las Indias, MS., ubi
supra. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 4.
2, » The treasurer used to boast he had passed some two-and-twenty
years in the wars of Italy. He was a shrewd personage, and Las
Casas, thinking that country a slippery school for morals, warned the
governor, he says, more than once "to beware of the twenty-two
years in Italy." Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 113.
244
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
promising a liberal share of the proceeds of it. How-
ever this may be, the parties urged his selection by the
governor with all the eloquence of which they were
capable. That officer had had ample experience of the
capacity and courage of the candidate. He knew, too,
that he had acquired a fortune which would enable him
to co-operate materially in fitting out the armament.
His popularity in the island would speedily attract
followers to his standard. 23 All past animosities had
long since been buried in oblivion, and the confidence
he was now to repose in him would insure his fidelity
and gratitude. He lent a willing ear, therefore, to the
recommendation of his counsellors, and, sending for
Cortes, announced his purpose of making him Captain-
General of the Armada. 26
Cortes had now attained the object of his wishes, —
the object for which his soul had panted ever since he
had set foot in the New World. He was no longer to
be condemned to a life of mercenary drudgery, nor to
be cooped up within the precincts of a petty island ;
but he was to be placed on a new and independent
theatre of action, and a boundless prospective was
opened to his view, which might satisfy not merely the
wildest cravings of avarice, but, to a bold, aspiring
spirit like his, the far more importunate cravings of
ambition. He fully appreciated the importance of the
late discoveries, and read in them the existence of the
2 5 "Si el no fuera por Capitan, que no fuera la tercera parte de la
gente que con el fue." Declaracion cle Puertocarrero, MS. (Coruna,
30 de Abril, 1520).
86 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 19. — De Rebus gestis,
MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 7. — Las Casas, Hist, general de las
Indias. MS., lib. 3, cap. 113.
ARMADA INTRUSTED TO CORTES.
245
great empire in the far West, dark hints of which had
floated, from time to time, to the Islands, and of which
more certain glimpses had been caught by those who
had reached the continent. This was the country in-
timated to the " Great Admiral" in his visit to Hon-
duras in 1502, and which he might have reached had
he held on a northern course, instead of striking to
the south in quest of an imaginary strait. As it was,
"he had but opened the gate," to use his own bitter
expression, "for others to enter." The time had at
length come when they were to enter it ; and the
young adventurer, whose magic lance was to' dissolve
the spell which had so long hung over these mysterious
regions, now stood ready to assume the enterprise.
From this hour the deportment of Cortes seemed to
undergo a change. His thoughts, instead of evaporat-
ing in empty levities or idle flashes of merriment, were
wholly concentrated on the great object to which he
was devoted. His elastic spirits were shown in cheer-
ing and stimulating the companions of his toilsome
duties, and he was roused to a generous enthusiasm, of
which even those who knew him best had not con-
ceived him capable. He applied at once all the money
in his possession to fitting out the armament. He
raised more by the mortgage of his estates, and by
giving his obligations to some wealthy merchants of
the place, who relied for their reimbursement on the
success of the expedition ; and, when his own credit
was exhausted, he availed himself of that of his
friends.
The funds thus acquired he expended in the pur-
chase of vessels, provisions, and military stores, while
246 ' DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
he invited recruits by offers of assistance to such as
were too poor to provide for themselves, and by the
additional promise of a liberal share of the anticipated
profits. 27
All was now bustle and excitement in the little town
of St. Jago. Some were busy in refitting the vessels
and getting them ready for the voyage ; some in pro-
viding naval stores ; others in converting their own
estates into money in order to equip themselves ;
every one seemed anxious to contribute in some way
or other to the success of the expedition. Six ships,
some of them of a large size, had already been pro-
cured ; and three hundred recruits enrolled themselves
in the course of a few days, eager to seek their
fortunes under the banner of this daring and popular
chieftain.
How far the governor contributed towards the ex-
penses of the outfit is not very clear. If the friends of
Cortes are to be believed, nearly the whole burden fell
on him ; since, while he supplied the squadron without
remuneration, the governor sold many of his own
stores at an exorbitant profit. 28 Yet it does not seem
*i Declaracion de Puertocarrero, MS. — Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. —
Probanza en la Villa Segura, MS. (4 de Oct., 1520).
28 The letter from the Municipality of Vera Cruz, after stating that
Velasquez bore only one-third of the original expense, adds, " Y sepan
Vras. Magestades que la mayor parte de la dicha tercia parte que el
dicho Diego Velasquez gast6 en hacer la dicha armada fue emplear
sus dineros en vinos y en ropas, y en otras cosas de poco valor para
nos lo vender ac£ en mucha mas cantidad de lo que a el le costo, por
manera que podemos decir que entre nosotros los Espanoles vasallos
de Vras. Reales Altezas ha hecho Diego Velasquez su rescate y
granosea de sus dineros cobrandolos muy bien." (Carta de Vera
Cruz, MS.) Puertocarrero and Montejo, also, in their depositions
ARMADA INTRUSTED TO CORTES.
247
probable that Velasquez, with such ample means at his
command, should have thrown on his deputy the burden
of the expedition, nor that the latter — had he done
so — could have been in a condition to meet these ex-
penses, amounting, as we are told, to more than twenty
thousand gold ducats. Still it cannot be denied that
an ambitious man like Cortes, who was to reap all the
glory of the enterprise, would very naturally be less
solicitous to count the gains of it, than his employer,
who, inactive at home, and having no laurels to win,
must look on the pecuniary profits as his only recom-
pense. The question gave rise, some years later, to a
furious litigation between the parties, with which it is
not necessary at present to embarrass the reader.
It is due to Velasquez to state that the instructions
delivered by him for the conduct of the expedition
cannot be charged with a narrow or mercenary spirit.
The first object of the voyage was to find Grijalva, after
which the two commanders were to proceed in com-
pany together. Reports had been brought back by
Cordova, on his return from the first visit to Yucatan,
that six Christians were said to be lingering in cap-
tivity in the interior of the country. It was supposed
they might belong to the party of the unfortunate Nicu-
essa, and orders were given to find them out, if possi-
ble, and restore them to liberty. But the great object of
the expedition was barter with the natives. In pursuing
taken in Spain, both speak of Cortes' having furnished two-thirds of
the cost of the flotilla. (Declaracion de Puertocarrero, MS. — Decla-
racion de Montejo, MS. (29 de Abril, 1520.).) The letter from Vera
Cruz, however, was prepared under the eye of Cortes ; and the last
two were his confidential officers.
248 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
this, special care was to be taken that they should
receive no wrong, but be treated with kindness and
humanity. Cortes was to bear in mind, above all
things, that the object which the Spanish monarch had
most at heart was the conversion of the Indians. He
was to impress on them the grandeur and goodness of
his royal master, to invite them "to give in their
allegiance to him, and to manifest it by regaling him
with such comfortable presents of gold, pearls, and pre-
cious stones as, by showing their own good will, would
secure his favor and protection." He was to make an
accurate survey of the coast, sounding its bays and
inlets for the benefit of future navigators. He was to
acquaint himself with the natural products of the
country, with the character of its different races, their
institutions and progress in civilization ; and he was to
send home minute accounts of all these, together with
such articles as he should obtain in his intercourse with
them. Finally, he was to take the most careful care to
omit nothing that might redound to the service of God
or his sovereign. 29
Such was the general tenor of the instructions given
to Cortes; and they must be admitted to provide for
the interests of science and humanity, as well as for
those which had reference only to a commercial specu-
lation. It may seem strange, considering the discon-
tent shown by Velasquez with his former captain,
Grijalva, for not colonizing, that no directions should
*9 The instrument, in the original Castilian, will be found in Appen-
dix, Part 2, No. 5. It is often referred to by writers who never saw
it, as the Agreement between Cortes and Velasquez. It is, in fact,
only the instructions given by this latter to his officer, who was no
party to it.
ARMADA INTRUSTED TO CORTES.
249
have been given to that effect here. But he had not
yet received from Spain the warrant for investing his
agents with such powers ; and. that which had been
obtained from the Hieronymite fathers in Hispaniola
conceded only the right to traffic with the natives.
The commission at the same time recognized the
authority of Cortes as Captain-General of the expe-
dition. 30
3° Declaracion de Puertocarrero, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 7. —
Velasquez soon after obtained from the crown authority to colonize
the new countries, with the title of adelantado over them. The in-
strument was dated at Barcelona, Nov. 13th, 15 18. (Herrera, Hist,
general, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 8.) Empty privileges ! Las Casas gives a
caustic etymology of the title of adelantado, so often granted to the
Spanish discoverers. " Adelantados porque se adelantaran en hazer
males y danos tan gravfsimos i. gentes pacificas." Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. 3, cap. 117.
CHAPTER III.
Jealousy of velasquez. — cortes embarks. — equip-
ment OF HIS FLEET. HIS PERSON AND CHARACTER.
— RENDEZVOUS AT HAVANA. STRENGTH OF HIS
ARMAMENT.
1519.
The importance given to Cortes by his new position,
and, perhaps, a somewhat more lofty bearing, gradually
gave uneasiness to the naturally suspicious temper of
Velasquez, who became apprehensive that his officer,
when away where he would have the power, might also
have the inclination, to throw off his dependence on
him altogether. An accidental circumstance at this
time heightened these suspicions. A mad fellow, his
jester, one of those crack-brained wits — half wit, half
fool — who formed in those days a common appendage
to every great man's establishment, called out to the
governor, as he was taking his usual walk one morning
with Cortes towards the port, "Have a care, master
Velasquez, or we shall have to go a hunting, some day
or other, after this same captain of ours !" " Do you
hear what the rogue says?" exclaimed the governor to
his companion. "Do not heed him," said Cortes:
"he is a saucy knave, and deserves a good whip-
ping." The words sank deep, however, in the mind
of Velasquez, — as, indeed, true jests are apt to stick.
There were not wanting persons about his Excel-
(25°)
JEALOUSY OF VELASQUEZ. 351
lency who fanned the latent embers of jealousy into a
blaze. These worthy gentlemen, some of them kins-
men of Velasquez, who probably felt their own deserts
somewhat thrown into the shade by the rising fortunes
of Cortes, reminded the governor of his ancient quarrel
with that officer, and of the little probability that
affronts so keenly felt at the time could ever be for-
gotten. By these and similar suggestions, and by mis-
constructions of the present conduct of Cortes, they
wrought on the passions of Velasquez to such a degree
that he resolved to intrust the expedition to other
hands. *
He communicated his design to his confidential
advisers, Lares and Duero, and these trusty personages
reported it without delay to Cortes, although, "to a
man of half his penetration," says Las Casas, " the
thing would have been readily divined from the gov-
ernor's altered demeanor." 2 The two functionaries
advised their friend to expedite matters as much as
possible, and to lose no time in getting his fleet ready
for sea, if he would retain the command of it. Cortes
showed the same prompt decision on this occasion
which more than once afterwards in a similar crisis
gave the direction to his destiny.
1 " Deterrebat," says the anonymous biographer, " eum Cortesii
natura imperii avida, fiducia sui ingens, et nimius sumptus in classe
paranda. Timere itaque Velasquius coepit, si Cortesius cum ea. classe
iret, nihil ad se vel honoris vel lucri rediturum." De Rebus gestis,
MS. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 19. — Las Casas, Hist,
de las Indias, MS., cap. 114.
* " Cortes no avia menester mas para entendello de mirar el gesto
& Diego Velasquez segun su astuta viveza y mundana sabidurfa."
Hist, de las Indias, MS., cap. 114.
252
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
He had not yet got his complement of men, nor of
vessels, and was very inadequately provided with sup-
plies of any kind. But he resolved to weigh anchor
that very night. He waited on his officers, informed
them of his purpose, and probably of the cause of it;
and at midnight, when the town was hushed in sleep,
they all went quietly on board, and the little squadron
dropped down the bay. First, however, Cortes had
visited the person whose business it was to supply the
place with meat, and relieved him of all his stock on
hand, notwithstanding his complaint that the city must
suffer for it on the morrow, leaving him, at the same
time, in payment, a massive gold chain of much value,
which he wore round his neck. 3
Great was the amazement of the good citizens of
St. Jago when, at dawn, they saw that the fleet, which
they knew was so ill prepared for the voyage, had left
its moorings and was busily getting under way. The
tidings soon came to the ears of his Excellency, who,
springing from his bed, hastily dressed himself, mounted
his horse, and, followed by his retinue, galloped down
to the quay. Cortes, as soon as he descried their
approach, entered an armed boat, and came within
speaking-distance of the shore. "And is it thus you
part from me?" exclaimed Velasquez; "a courteous
way of taking leave, truly !" " Pardon me," answered
Cortes ; " time presses, and there are some things that
should be done before they are even thought of. Has
your Excellency any commands?" But the mortified
3 Las Casas had the story from Cortes' own mouth. Hist, de
las Indias, MS., cap. 114.— Gomara, Cronica, cap. 7. — De Rebus
gestis, MS.
EQUIPMENT OF HIS FLEET. 253
governor had no commands to give ; and Cortes, po-
litely waving his hand, returned to his vessel, and the
little fleet instantly made sail for the port of Macaca,
about fifteen leagues distant. (November 18, 15 18.)
Velasquez rode back to his house to digest his chagrin
as he best might ; satisfied, probably, that he had made
at least two blunders, — one in appointing Cortes to the
command, the other in attempting to deprive him of
it. For, if it be true that by giving our confidence
by halves we can scarcely hope to make a friend, it is
equally true that by withdrawing it when given we
shall make an enemy. 4
This clandestine departure of Cortes has been se-
verely criticised by some writers, especially by Las
Casas. 5 Yet much may be urged in vindication of his
conduct. He had been appointed to the command by
the voluntary act of the governor, and this had been
fully ratified by the authorities of Hispaniola. He had
at once devoted all his resources to the undertaking,
incurring, indeed, a heavy debt in addition. He was
now to be deprived of his commission, without any
misconduct having been alleged or at least proved
4 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., cap. 114. — Herrera, Hist,
general, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 12. — Solis, who follows Bernal Diaz in
saying that Cortes parted openly and amicably from Velasquez, seems
to consider it a great slander on the character of the former to sup-
pose that he wanted to break with the governor so soon, when he had
received so little provocation. (Conquista, lib. 1, cap. 10.) But it is
not necessary to suppose that Cortes intended a rupture with his em-
ployer by this clandestine movement, but only to secure himself in the
command. At all events, the text conforms in every particular to the
statement of Las Casas, who, as he knew both the parties well, and
resided on the island at the time, had ample means of information.
5 Hist, de las Indias, MS., cap. 114.
Vol. I. 22
254 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
against him. Such an event must overwhelm him in
irretrievable ruin, to say nothing of the friends from
whom he had so largely borrowed, and the followers
who had embarked their fortunes in the expedition on
the faith of his commanding it. There are few per-
sons, probably, who, under these circumstances, would
have felt called tamely to acquiesce in the sacrifice of
their hopes to a groundless and arbitrary whim. The
most to have been expected from Cortes was that he
should feel obliged to provide faithfully for the interests
of his employer in the conduct of the enterprise. How
far he felt the force of this obligation will appear in
the sequel.
From Macaca, where Cortes laid in such stores as he
could obtain from the royal farms, and which, he said,
he considered as "a loan from the king," he proceeded
to Trinidad ; a more considerable town, on the southern
coast of Cuba. Here he landed, and, erecting his
standard in front of his quarters, made proclamation,
with liberal offers to all who would join the expedition.
Volunteers came in daily, and among them more than
a hundred of Grijalva's men, just returned from their
voyage and willing to follow up the discovery under
an enterprising leader. The fame of Cortes attracted,
also, a number of cavaliers of family and distinction,
some of whom, having accompanied Grijalva, brought
much information valuable for the present expedition.
Among these hidalgos may be mentioned Pedro de
Alvarado and his brothers, Cristoval de Olid, Alonso
de Avila, Juan Velasquez de Leon, a near relation of
the governor, Alonso Hernandez de Puertocarrero, and
Gonzalo de Sandoval, — all of them men who took a
EQUIPMENT OF HIS FLEET. 255
most important part in the Conquest. Their presence
was of great moment, as giving consideration to the
enterprise ; and, when they entered the little camp of
the adventurers, the latter turned out to welcome them
amidst lively strains of music and joyous salvos of
artillery.
Cortes meanwhile was active in purchasing military
stores and provisions. Learning that a trading-vessel
laden with grain and other commodities for the mines
was off the coast, he ordered out one of his caravels to
seize her and bring her into port. He paid the master
in bills for both cargo and ship, and even persuaded
this man, named Sedeno, who was wealthy, to join his
fortunes to the expedition. He also despatched one of
his officers, Diego de Ordaz, in quest of another ship,
of which he had tidings, with instructions to seize it in
like manner, and to meet him with it off Cape St. An-
tonio, the westerly point of the island. 6 By this he
effected another object, that of getting rid of Ordaz,
who was one of the governor's household, and an in-
convenient spy on his own actions.
While thus occupied, letters from Velasquez were re-
ceived by the commander of Trinidad, requiring him
to seize the person of Cortes and to detain him, as he
had been deposed from the command of the fleet,
which was given to another. This functionary com-
municated his instructions to the principal officers in
6 Las Casas had this, also, from the lips of Cortes in later life.
" Todo esto me dixo el mismo Cortes, con otras cosas cerca dello
despues de Marques ; . . . reindo y mofando e con estas formales
palabras, A la mi fee andnbe por alii como un gentil cosario." Hist,
de las Indias, MS., cap. 115.
256 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
the expedition, who counselled him not to make the
attempt, as it would undoubtedly lead to a commotion
among the soldiers, that might end in laying the town
in ashes. Verdugo thought it prudent to conform to
this advice. 7
As Cortes was willing to strengthen himself by still
further reinforcements, he ordered Alvarado with a
small body of men to march across the country to the
Havana, while he himself would sail round the westerly
point of the island and meet him there with the squad-
ron. In this port he again displayed his standard,
making the usual proclamation. He caused all the
large guns to be brought on shore, and, with the small
arms and cross-bows, to be put in order. As there was
abundance of cotton raised in this neighborhood, he
had the jackets of the soldiers thickly quilted with it,
for a defence against the Indian arrows, from which
the troops in the former expeditions had grievously
suffered. He distributed his men into eleven com-
panies, each under the command of an experienced
officer ; and it was observed that, although several of
the cavaliers in the service were the personal friends
and even kinsmen of Velasquez, he appeared to treat
them all with perfect confidence.
His principal standard was of black velvet, em-
broidered with gold, and emblazoned with a red cross
amidst flames of blue and white, with this motto in
Latin beneath: "Friends, let us follow the Cross; and
under this sign, if we have faith, we shall conquer."
He now assumed more state in his own person and way
7 De Rebus gestis, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 8. — Las Casas,
Hist, de las Indias, MS., cap. 114, 115.
CORTES PERSON AND CHARACTER.
257
of living, introducing a greater number of domestics
and officers into his household, and placing it on a
footing becoming a man of high station. This state
he maintained through the rest of his life. 8
Cortes at this time was thirty-three, or perhaps thirty-
four, years of age. In stature he was rather above the
middle size. His complexion was pale ; and his large
dark eye gave an expression of gravity to his counte-
nance, not to have been expected in one of his cheer-
ful temperament. His figure was slender, at least until
later life ; but his chest was deep, his shoulders broad,
his frame muscular and well proportioned. It pre-
sented the union of agility and vigor which qualified
him to excel in fencing, horsemanship, and the other
generous exercises of chivalry. In his diet he was
temperate, careless of what he ate, and drinking little ;
while to toil and privation he seemed perfectly indif-
ferent. His dress, for he did not disdain the impres-
sion produced by such adventitious aids, was such as
to set off his handsome person to advantage ; neither
gaudy nor striking, but rich. He wore few ornaments,
and usually the same ; but those were of great price.
His manners, frank and soldier-like, concealed a most
cool and calculating spirit. With his gayest humor
there mingled a settled air of resolution, which made
those who approached him feel they must obey, and
which infused something like awe into the attachment
of his most devoted followers. Such a combination,
in which love was tempered by authority, was the one
8 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 24. — De Rebus gestis,
MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 8. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS.,
cap. 115. — The legend on the standard was, doubtless, suggested by
that on the labarum, — the sacred banner of Constantine.
2 2*
258 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
probably best calculated to inspire devotion in the
rough and turbulent spirits among whom his lot was to
be cast.
The character of Cortes seems to have undergone
some change with change of circumstances ; or, to
speak more correctly, the new scenes in which he was
placed called forth qualities which before lay dormant
in his bosom. There are some hardy natures that
require the heats of excited action to unfold their
energies ; like the plants which, closed to the mild
influence of a temperate latitude, come to their full
growth, and give forth their fruits, only in the burning
atmosphere of the tropics. Such is the portrait left
to us by his contemporaries of this remarkable man ;
the instrument selected by Providence to scatter terror
among the barbarian monarchs of the Western World,
and lay their empires in the dust. 9
Before the preparations were fully completed at the
Havana, the commander of the place, Don Pedro Barba,
received despatches from Velasquez ordering him to
apprehend Cortes and to prevent the departure of his
vessels ; while another epistle from the same source
was delivered to Cortes himself, requesting him to
postpone his voyage till the governor could communi-
cate with him, as he proposed, in person. "Never,"
exclaims Las Casas, "did I see so little knowledge of
affairs shown, as in this letter of Diego Velasquez, —
that he should have imagined that a man who had so
9 The most minute notices of the person and habits of Cortes are
to be gathered from the narrative of the old cavalier Bernal Diaz, who
served so long under him, and from Gomara, the general's chaplain.
See in particular the last chapter of Gomara's Cronica, and cap. 203
of the Hist, de la Conquista
STRENGTH OF HIS ARMAMENT.
2 59
recently put such an affront on him would defer his
departure at his bidding !" 10 It was, indeed, hoping
to stay the flight of the arrow by a word, after it had
left the bow.
The Captain - General, however, during his short
stay, had entirely conciliated the good will of Barba.
And, if that officer had had the inclination, he knew
he had not the power, to enforce his principal's orders,
in the face of a resolute soldiery, incensed at this
ungenerous persecution of their commander, and "all
of whom," in the words of the honest chronicler who
bore part in the expedition, "officers and privates,
would have cheerfully laid down their lives for him. ' ' "
Barba contented himself, therefore, with explaining to
Velasquez the impracticability of the attempt, and at
the same time endeavored to tranquillize his apprehen-
sions by asserting his own confidence in the fidelity of
Cortes. To this the latter added a communication of
his own, couched " in the soft terms he knew so well
how to use," I2 in which he implored his Excellency to
rely on his devotion to his interests, and concluded
with the comfortable assurance that he and the whole
fleet, God willing, would sail on the following morning.
Accordingly, on the ioth of February, 15 19, the
little squadron got under way, and directed its course
towards Cape St. Antonio, the appointed place of ren-
dezvous. When all were brought together, the vessels
were found to be eleven in number ; one of them, in
which Cortes himself went, was of a hundred tons'
10 Las Casas ; Hist, de las Indias, MS., cap. 115.
11 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 24.
w Ibid., loc. cit.
260 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
burden, three others were from seventy to eighty tons ;
the remainder were caravels and open brigantines.
The whole was put under the direction of Antonio de
Alaminos, as chief pilot ; a veteran navigator, who had
acted as pilot to Columbus in his last voyage, and to
Cordova and Grijalva in the former expeditions to
Yucatan.
Landing on the Cape and mustering his forces,
Cortes found they amounted to one hundred and ten
mariners, five hundred and fifty-three soldiers, in-
cluding thirty-two crossbowmen, and thirteen arque-
busiers, besides two hundred Indians of the island,
and a few Indian women for menial offices. He was
provided with ten heavy guns, four lighter pieces called
falconets, and with a good supply of ammunition. 13
He had besides sixteen horses. They were not easily
procured ; for the difficulty of transporting them across
the ocean in the flimsy craft of that day made them
rare and incredibly dear in the Islands. 14 But Cortes
x 3 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 26. — There is some dis-
crepancy among authorities in regard to the numbers of the army.
The Letter from Vera Cruz, which should have been exact, speaks in
round terms of only four hundred soldiers. (Carta de Vera Cruz,
MS.) Velasquez himself, in a communication to the Chief Judge
of Hispaniola, states the number at six hundred. (Carta de Diego
Velasquez al Lie. Figueroa, MS.) I have adopted the estimates of
Bernal Diaz, who, in his long service, seems to have become intimately
acquainted with every one of his comrades, their persons, and private
history.
*4 Incredibly dear indeed, since, from the statements contained in
the depositions at Villa Segura, it appears that the cost of the horses
for the expedition was from four to five hundred/£.sw de oro each I " Si
saben que de caballos que el dicho Senor Capitan General Hernando
Cortes ha comprado para servir en la dicha Conquista, que son diez 6
ocho, que le han costado & quatrocientos cinquenta & d quinientos
STRENGTH OF HIS ARMAMENT. 2 6l
rightfully estimated the importance of cavalry, however
small in number, both for their actual service in the
field, and for striking terror into the savages. With
so paltry a force did he enter on a conquest which
even his stout heart must have shrunk from attempting
with such means, had he but foreseen half its real
difficulties !
Before embarking, Cortes addressed his soldiers in a
short but animated harangue. He told them they were
about to enter on a noble enterprise, one that would
make their name famous to after-ages. He was leading
them to countries more vast and opulent than any yet
visited by Europeans. "I hold out to you a glorious
prize," continued the orator, " but it is to be won by
incessant toil. Great things are achieved only by great
exertions, and glory was never the reward of sloth. 13
If I have labored hard and staked my all on this under-
taking, it is for the love of that renown which is the
noblest recompense of man. But, if any among you
covet riches more, be but true to me, as I will be true
to you and to the occasion, and I will make you masters
of such as our countrymen have never dreamed of!
You are few in number, but strong in resolution ; and,
pesos ha pagado, £ que deve mas de ocho mil pesos de oro dellos."
(Probanza en Villa Segura, MS.) The estimation of these horses is
sufficiently shown by the minute information Bernal Diaz has thought
proper to give of every one of them ; minute enough for the pages of
a sporting calendar. See Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 23.
*5 " Io vos propongo grandes premios, mas embueltos en grandes
trabajos ; pero la virtud no quiere ociosidad." (Gomara, Cronica, cap.
9.) It is the thought so finely expressed by Thomson :
" For sluggard's brow the laurel never grows ;
Renown is not the child of indolent repose."
262 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
if this does not falter, doubt not but that the Almighty,
who has never deserted the Spaniard in his contest
with the infidel, will shield you, though encompassed
by a cloud of enemies ; for your cause is a just cause,
and you are to fight under the banner of the Cross.
Go forward, then," he concluded, "with alacrity and
confidence, and carry to a glorious issue the work so
auspiciously begun." l6
The rough eloquence of the general, touching the
various chords of ambition, avarice, and religious zeal,
sent a thrill through the bosoms of his martial audi-
ence ; and, receiving it with acclamations, they seemed
eager to press forward under a chief who was to lead
them not so much to battle, as to triumph.
Cortes was well satisfied to find his own enthusiasm
so largely shared by his followers. Mass was then
celebrated with the solemnities usual with the Spanish
navigators when entering on their voyages of discovery.
The fleet was placed under the immediate protection
of St. Peter, the patron saint of Cortes, and, weighing
anchor, took its departure on the eighteenth day of
February, 15 19, for the coast of Yucatan. 17
16 The text is a very condensed abridgment of the original speech
of Cortes, — or of his chaplain, as the case may be. See it, in Gomara,
Cronica, cap. 9.
*7 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., cap. 115. — Gomara, Cronica,
cap. 10. — De Rebus gestis, MS. — " Tantus fuit armorum apparatus,"
exclaims the author of the last work, " quo alterum terrarum orbem
bellis Cortesius concutit ; ex tarn parvis opibus tantum imperium
Carolo facit ; aperitque omnium primus Hispanae genti Hispaniam
novam !" The author of this work is unknown. It seems to have
been part of a great compilation " De Orbe Novo," written, probably,
on the plan of a series of biographical sketches, as the introduction
speaks of a life of Columbus preceding this of Cortes. It was com-
ESTRELLA'S MANUSCRIPT. 263
posed, as it states, while many of the old Conquerors were still sur-
viving, and is addressed to the son of Cortes. The historian, therefore,
had ample means of verifying the truth of his own statements, although
they too often betray, in his partiality for his hero, the influence of the
patronage under which the work was produced. It runs into a pro-
lixity of detail which, however tedious, has its uses in a contemporary
document. Unluckily, only the first book was finished, or, at least,
has survived ; terminating with the events of this chapter. It is writ-
ten in Latin, in a pure and perspicuous style, and is conjectured with
some plausibility to be the work of Calvet de Estrella, Chronicler of
the Indies. The original exists in the Archives of Simancas, where it
was discovered and transcribed by Mufioz, from whose copy that in
my library was taken.
CHAPTER IV.
VOYAGE TO COZUMEL. CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES. —
GER6NIMO DE AGUILAR. ARMY ARRIVES AT TABASCO.
GREAT BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. — CHRISTIANITY
INTRODUCED.
1519.
Orders were given for the vessels to keep as near
together as possible, and to take the direction of the
capitania, or admiral's ship, which carried a beacon-
light in the stern during the night. But the weather,
which had been favorable, changed soon after their
departure, and one of those tempests set in which at
this season are often found in the latitudes of the West
Indies. It fell with terrible force on the little navy,
scattering it far asunder, dismantling some of the
ships, and driving them all considerably south of their
proposed destination.
Cortes, who had lingered behind to convoy a dis-
abled vessel, reached the island of Cozumel last. On
landing, he learned that one of his captains, Pedro
de Alvarado, had availed himself of the short time he
had been there, to enter the temples, rifle them of
their few ornaments, and, by his violent conduct, so
far to terrify the simple natives that they had fled for
refuge into the interior of the island. Cortes, highly
incensed at these rash proceedings, so contrary to the
policy he had proposed, could not refrain from severely
reprimanding his officer in the presence of the army.
(264)
VOYAGE TO COZUMEL. 265
He commanded two Indian captives, taken by Alva-
rado, to be brought before him, and explained to them
the pacific purpose of his visit. This he did through
the assistance of his interpreter, Melchorejo, a native
of Yucatan, who had been brought back by Grijalva,
and who during his residence in Cuba had picked up
some acquaintance with the Castilian. He then dis-
missed them loaded with presents, and with an invita-
tion to their countrymen to return to their homes
without fear of further annoyance. This humane
policy succeeded. The fugitives, reassured, were not
slow in coming back ; and an amicable intercourse
was established, in which Spanish cutlery and trinkets
were exchanged for the gold ornaments of the natives ;
a traffic in which each party congratulated itself — a
philosopher might think with equal reason — on out-
witting the other.
The first object of Cortes was to gather tidings of
the unfortunate Christians who were reported to be
still lingering in captivity on the neighboring conti-
nent. From some traders in the island he obtained
such a confirmation of the report that he sent Diego
de Ordaz with two brigantines to the opposite coast of
Yucatan, with instructions to remain there eight days.
Some Indians went as messengers in the vessels, who
consented to bear a letter to the captives informing
them of the arrival of their countrymen in Cozumel
with a liberal ransom for their release. Meanwhile
the general proposed to make an excursion to the
different parts of the island, that he might give em-
ployment to the restless spirits of the soldiers, and
ascertain the resources of the country.
Vol. I. — m 23
266 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
It was poor and thinly peopled. But everywhere he
recognized the vestiges of a higher civilization than
what he had before witnessed in the Indian islands.
The houses were some of them large, and often built
of stone and lime. He was particularly struck with the
temples, in which were towers constructed of the same
solid materials, and rising several stories in height. In
the court of one of these he was amazed by the sight of
a cross, of stone and lime, about ten palms high. It
was the emblem of the god of rain. Its appearance
suggested the wildest conjectures, not merely to the
unlettered soldiers, but subsequently to the European
scholar, who speculated on the character of the races
that had introduced there the sacred symbol of Chris-
tianity. But no such inference, as we shall see here-
after, could be warranted. 1 Yet it must be regarded
as a curious fact that the Cross should have been ven-
erated as the object of religious worship both in the
New World and in regions of the Old where the light
of Christianity had never risen. 2
1 See Appendix, Part i, Note 27.
a Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 25, et seq. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 10, 15. — Las Casas, Hist, de
las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 115. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib.
4, cap. 6. — Martyr, de Insulis nuper inventis (Colonise, 1574), p. 344.
— While these pages were passing through the press, but not till two
years after they were written, Mr. Stephens's important and interest-
ing volumes appeared, containing the account of his second expedi-
tion to Yucatan. In the latter part of the work he describes his visit
to Cozumel, now an uninhabited island covered with impenetrable
forests. Near the shore he saw the remains of ancient Indian struc-
tures, which he conceives may possibly have been the same that met
the eyes of Grijalva and Cortes, and which suggest to him some im-
portant inferences. He is led into further reflections on the existence
CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES. 267
The next object of Cortes was to reclaim the natives
from their gross idolatry and to substitute a purer form
of worship. In accomplishing this he was prepared
to use force, if milder measures should be ineffectual.
There was nothing which the Spanish government had
more earnestly at heart than the conversion of the
Indians. It forms the constant burden of their in-
structions, and gave to the military expeditions in this
western hemisphere somewhat of the air of a crusade.
The cavalier who embarked in them entered fully into
these chivalrous and devotional feelings. No doubt
was entertained of the efficacy of conversion, however
sudden might be the change or however violent the
means. The sword was a good argument, when the
tongue failed ; and the spread of Mahometanism had
shown that seeds sown by the hand of violence, far
from perishing in the ground, would spring up and
bear fruit to after -time. If this were so in a bad cause,
how much more would it be true in a good one ! The
of the cross as a symbol of worship among the islanders. (Incidents
of Travel in Yucatan (New York, 1843), vol. ii. chap. 20.) As the
discussion of these matters would lead me too far from the track of
our narrative, I shall take occasion to return to them hereafter, when
I treat of the architectural remains of the country.*
* [In the passages here referred to, the author has noticed various
proofs of the existence of the cross as a symbol of worship among
pagan nations both in the Old World and the New. The fact has
been deemed a very puzzling one ; yet the explanation, as traced by
Dr. Brinton, is sufficiently simple : " The arms of the cross were
designed to point to the cardinal points and represent the four winds,
— the rain-bringers." Hence the name given to it in the Mexican
language, signifying "Tree of our Life,'' — a term well calculated to
increase the wonderment of the Spanish discoverers. Myths of the
New World, p. 96, et al, — Ed.]
268 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
Spanish cavalier felt he had a high mission to accom-
plish as a soldier of the Cross. However unauthorized
or unrighteous the war into which he had entered may
seem to us, to him it was a holy war. He was in arms
against the infidel. Not to care for the soul of his
benighted enemy was to put his own in jeopardy. The
conversion of a single soul might cover a multitude of
sins. It was not for morals that he was concerned, but
for the faith. This, though understood in its most
literal and limited sense, comprehended the whole
scheme of Christian morality. Whoever died in the
faith, however immoral had been his life, might be
said to die in the Lord. Such was the creed of the
Castilian knight of that day, as imbibed from the
preachings of the pulpit, from cloisters and colleges at
home, from monks and missionaries abroad, — from all
save one, whose devotion, kindled at a purer source,
was not, alas ! permitted to send forth its radiance far
into the thick gloom by which he was encompassed. 3
No one partook more fully of the feelings above
described than Hernan Cortes. He was, in truth, the
very mirror of the time in which he lived, reflecting
its motley characteristics, its speculative devotion and
practical license, but with an intensity all his own.
He was greatly scandalized at the exhibition of the
idolatrous practices of the people of Cozumel, though
untainted, as it would seem, with human sacrifices.
He endeavored to persuade them to embrace a better
faith, through the agency of two ecclesiastics who
3 See the biographical sketch of the good bishop Las Casas, the
" Protector of the Indians," in the Postscript at the close of the present
Book.
CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES.
269
attended the expedition, — the licentiate Juan Diaz and
Father Bartolome de Olmedo. The latter of these
godly men afforded the rare example — rare in any age
— of the union of fervent zeal with charity, while he
beautifully illustrated in his own conduct the precepts
which he taught. He remained with the army through
the whole expedition, and by his wise and benevolent
counsels was often enabled to mitigate the cruelties of
the Conquerors, and to turn aside the edge of the
sword from the unfortunate natives.
These two missionaries vainly labored to persuade
the people of Cozumel to renounce their abominations,
and to allow the Indian idols, in which the Christians
recognized the true lineaments of Satan, 4 to be thrown
down and demolished. The simple natives, filled with
horror at the proposed profanation, exclaimed that
these were the gods who sent them the sunshine and
the storm, and, should any violence be offered, they
would be sure to avenge it by sending their lightnings
on the heads of its perpetrators.
Cortes was probably not much of a polemic. At all
events, he preferred on the present occasion action to
argument, and thought that the best way to convince
the Indians of their error was to prove the falsehood
of the prediction. He accordingly, without further
ceremony, caused the venerated images to be rolled
down the stairs of the great temple, amidst the groans
and lamentations of the natives. An altar was hastily
4 " It may have been that the devil appeared to them as he is, and
left these forms stamped on their imagination, so that the imitative
power of the artist reveals itself in the ugliness of the image." Solis,
Conquista, p. 39.
23*
270
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
constructed, an image of the Virgin and Child placed
over it, and mass was performed by Father Olmedo
and his reverend companion for the first time within
the walls of a temple in New Spain. The patient min-
isters tried once more to pour the light of the gospel
into the benighted understandings of the islanders, and
to expound the mysteries of the Catholic faith. The
Indian interpreter must have afforded rather a dubious
channel for the transmission of such abstruse doctrines.
But they at length found favor with their auditors,
who, whether overawed by the bold bearing of the in-
vaders, or convinced of the impotence of deities that
could not shield their own shrines from violation, now
consented to embrace Christianity. 5
While Cortes was thus occupied with the triumphs
of the Cross, he received intelligence that Ordaz had
returned from Yucatan without tidings of the Spanish
captives. Though much chagrined, the general did
not choose to postpone longer his departure from Co-
5 Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 13. — Herrera
Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 4, cap. 7. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 78. — Las Casas, whose enlightened views in religion would have
done honor to the present age, insists on the futility of these forced
conversions, by which it was proposed in a few days to wean men from
the idolatry which they had been taught to reverence from the cradle.
"The only way of doing this," he says, "is by long, assiduous, and
faithful preaching, until the heathen shall gather some ideas of the
true nature of the Deity and of the doctrines they are to embrace.
Above all, the lives of the Christians should be such as to exemplify
the truth of these doctrines, that, seeing this, the poor Indian may
glorify the Father, and acknowledge him, who has such worshippers,
for the true and only God." See the original remarks, which I quote
in extenso, as a good specimen of the bishop's style when kindled by
his subject into eloquence, in Appendix, Part 2, No. 6.
GERONIMO DE AGUILAR.
271
zumel. The fleet had been well stored with provisions
by the friendly inhabitants, and, embarking his troops,
Cortes, in the beginning of March, took leave of its
hospitable shores. The squadron had not proceeded
far, however, before a leak in one of the vessels com-
pelled them to return to the same port. The detention
was attended with important consequences ; so much
so, indeed, that a writer of the time discerns in it "a
great mystery and a miracle." s
Soon after landing, a canoe with several Indians was
seen making its way from the neighboring shores of
Yucatan. On reaching the island, one of the men in-
quired, in broken Castilian, "if he were among Chris-
tians," and, being answered in the affirmative, threw
himself on his knees and returned thanks to Heaven
for his delivery. He was one of the unfortunate cap-
tives for whose fate so much interest had been felt.
His name was Geronimo de Aguilar, a native of Ecija,
in Old Spain, where he had been regularly educated for
the church. He had been established with the colony
at Darien, and on a voyage from that place to Hispa-
niola, eight years previous, was wrecked near the coast
of Yucatan. He escaped with several of his com-
panions in the ship's boat, where some perished from
hunger and exposure, while others were sacrificed, on
their reaching land, by the cannibal natives of the
peninsula. Aguilar was preserved from the same dis-
mal fate by escaping into the interior, where he fell
into the hands of a powerful cacique, who, though he
spared his life, treated him at first with great rigor.
6 " Muy gran misterio y milagro de Dios." Carta de Vera Cruz,
MS.
272 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
The patience of the captive, however, and his singular
humility, touched the better feelings of the chief-
tain, who would have persuaded Aguilar to take a wife
among his people, but the ecclesiastic steadily refused,
in obedience to his vows. This admirable constancy
excited the distrust of the cacique, who put his virtue
to a severe test by various temptations, and much of the
same sort as those with which the Devil is said to have
assailed St. Anthony. 7 From all these fiery trials,
however, like his ghostly predecessor, he came out un-
scorched. Continence is too rare and difficult a virtue
with barbarians, not to challenge their veneration, and
the practice of it has made the reputation of more than
one saint in the Old as well as the New World. Agui-
lar was now intrusted with the care of his master's
household and his numerous wives. He was a man of
discretion, as well as virtue ; and his counsels were
found so salutary that he was consulted on all im-
portant matters. In short, Aguilar became a great
man among the Indians.
It was with much regret, therefore, that his master
received the proposals for his return to his country-
men, to which nothing but the rich treasure of glass
beads, hawk -bells, and other jewels of like value, sent
for his ransom, would have induced him to consent.
When Aguilar reached the coast, there had been so
much delay that the brigantines had sailed ; and it was
7 They are enumerated by Herrera with a minuteness which may
claim at least the merit of giving a much higher notion of Aguilar's
virtue than the barren generalities of the text. (Hist, general, dec. 2,
lib. 4, cap. 6-8.) The story is prettily told by Washington Irving.
Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions cf Columbus (London,
1833), P- s6 3. et seq.
GERONIMO DE AGUILAR.
*73
owing to the fortunate return of the fleet to Cozumel
that he was enabled to join it.
On appearing before Cortes, the poor man saluted
him in the Indian style, by touching the earth with
his hand and carrying it to his head. The commander,
raising him up, affectionately embraced him, covering
him at the same time with his own cloak, as Aguilar
was simply clad in the habiliments of the country,
somewhat too scanty for a European eye. It was long,
indeed, before the tastes which he had acquired in the
freedom of the forest could be reconciled to the con-
straints either of dress or manners imposed by the arti-
ficial forms of civilization. Aguilar' s long residence
in the country had familiarized him with the Mayan
dialects of Yucatan, and, as he gradually revived his
Castilian, he became of essential importance as an
interpreter. Cortes saw the advantage of this from
the first, but he could not fully estimate all the con-
sequences that were to flow from it. 8
The repairs of the vessels being at length completed,
the Spanish commander once more took leave of the
friendly natives of Cozumel, and set sail on the 4th of
March. Keeping as near as possible to the coast of
Yucatan, he doubled Cape Catoche, and with flowing
sheets swept down the broad bay of Campeachy, fringed
with the rich dye-woods which have since furnished so
important an article of commerce to Europe. He
passed Potonchan, where Cordova had experienced a
8 Camargo, Historia de Tlascala, MS. — Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. 33, cap. 1. — Martyr, De Insulis, p. 347. — Bernal Diaz, Hist
de la Conquista, cap. 29. — Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Las Casas,
Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 115, 116.
M*
274
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
rough reception from the natives ; and soon after
reached the mouth of the Rio de Tabasco, or Grijalva,
in which that navigator had carried on so lucrative a
traffic. Though mindful of the great object of his
voyage, — the visit to the Aztec territories, — he was
desirous of acquainting himself with the resources of
this country, and determined to ascend the river and
visit the great town on its borders.
The water was so shallow, from the accumulation of
sand at the mouth of the stream, that the general was
obliged to leave the ships at anchor and to embark in
the boats with a part only of his forces. The banks
were thickly studded with mangrove-trees, that, with
their roots shooting up and interlacing one another,
formed a kind of impervious screen or net-work, be-
hind which the dark forms of the natives were seen
glancing to and fro with the most menacing looks and
gestures. Cortes, much surprised at these unfriendly
demonstrations, so unlike what he had had reason to
expect, moved cautiously up the stream. When he
had reached an open place, where a large number of
Indians were assembled, he asked, through his inter-
preter, leave to land, explaining at the same time his
amicable intentions. But the Indians, brandishing
their weapons, answered only with gestures of angry
defiance. Though much chagrined, Cortes thought it
best not to urge the matter further that evening, but
withdrew to a neighboring island, where he disem-
barked his troops, resolved to effect a landing on the
following morning.
When day broke, the Spaniards saw the opposite
banks lined with a much more numerous array than on
ARMY ARRIVES AT TABASCO.
275
the preceding evening, while the canoes along the
shore were filled with bands of armed warriors^ Cortes
now made his preparations for the attack. He first
landed a detachment of a hundred men under Alonso
de Avila, at a point somewhat lower down the stream,
sheltered by a thick grove of palms, from-which a road,
as he knew, led to the town of Tabasco, giving orders
to his officer to march at once on the place, while he
himself advanced to assault it in front. 9
Then, embarking the remainder of his troops, Cortes
crossed the river in face of the enemy ; but, before
commencing hostilities, that he might "act with entire
regard to justice, and in obedience to the instructions
of the Royal Council," 10 he first caused proclamation
to be made, through the interpreter, that he desired
only a free passage for his men, and that he proposed
to revive the friendly relations which had formerly
subsisted between his countrymen and the natives. He
assured them that if blood were spilt the sin would lie
on their heads, and that resistance would be useless,
since he was resolved at all hazards to take up his
quarters that night in the town of Tabasco. This pro-
clamation, delivered in lofty tone, and duly recorded
by the notary, was answered by the Indians — who
might possibly have comprehended one word in ten of
it — with shouts of defiance and a shower of arrows. 11
9 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 31. — Carta de Vera Cruz
MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 18. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. 3, cap. 118. — Martyr, De Insulis, p. 348. — There are some
discrepancies between the statements of Bernal Diaz and the Letter
from Vera Cruz ; both by parties who were present.
10 Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 31.
11 " See," exclaims the Bishop of Chiapa, in his caustic vein, " the
276 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
Cortes, having now complied with all the requisitions
of a loyal cavalier, and shifted the responsibility from
his own shoulders to those of the Royal Council,
brought his boats alongside of the Indian canoes.
They grappled fiercely together, and both parties were
soon in the water, which rose above the girdle. The
struggle was not long, though desperate. The superior
strength of the Europeans prevailed, and they forced
the enemy back to land. Here, however, they were
supported by their countrymen, who showered down
darts, arrows, and blazing billets of wood on the heads
of the invaders. The banks were soft and slippery,
and it was with difficulty the soldiers made good their
footing. Cortes lost a sandal in the mud, but con-
tinued to fight barefoot, with great exposure of his per-
son, as the Indians, who soon singled out the leader,
called to one another, " Strike at the chief!"
At length the Spaniards gained the bank, and were
able to come into something like order, when they
opened a brisk fire from their arquebuses and cross-
reasonableness of this ' requisition,' or, to speak more correctly, the
folly and insensibility of the Royal Council, who could find, in the re-
fusal of the Indians to receive it, a good pretext for war." (Hist, de
las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 118.) In another place he pronounces an
animated invective against the iniquity of those who covered up hos-
tilities under this empty form of words, the import of which was utterly
incomprehensible to the barbarians. (Ibid., lib. 3, cap. 57.) The
famous formula, used by the Spanish conquerors on this occasion,
was drawn up by Dr. Palacios Reubios, a man of letters, and a mem-
ber of the King's council. " But I laugh at him and his letters," ex-
claims Oviedo, " if he thought a word of it could be comprehended by
the untutored Indians!" (Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 29, cap. 7.) The
regular Manifesto, requirimiento, may be found translated in the con-
cluding pages of Irving's " Voyages of the Companions of Columbus."
ARMY ARRIVES AT TABASCO.
277
bows. The enemy, astounded by the roar and flash
of the fire-arms, of which they had had no experience,
fell back, and retreated behind a breast-work of timber
thrown across the way. The Spaniards, hot in the pur-
suit, soon carried these rude defences, and drove the
Tabascans before them towards the town, where they
again took shelter behind their palisades.
Meanwhile Avila had arrived from the opposite
quarter, and the natives, taken by surprise, made no
further attempt at resistance, but abandoned the place
to the Christians. They had previously removed their
families and effects. Some provisions fell into the
hands of the victors, but little gold, "a circumstance,"
says Las Casas, "which gave them no particular satis-
faction." I2 It was a very populous place. The houses
were mostly of mud ; the better sort of stone and
lime ; affording proofs in the inhabitants of a superior
refinement to that found in the Islands, as their stout
resistance had given evidence of superior valor. 13
12 " Hallaronlas llenas de maiz e gallinas y otros vastimentos, oro
ninguno, de lo que ellos no rescivieron mucho plazer." Hist, de las
Ind., MS., ubi supra.
•3 Peter Martyr gives a glowing picture of this Indian capital. " Ad
fluminis ripam protentum dicunt esse oppidum, quantum non ausim
dicere: mille quingentorum passuum, ait Alaminus nauclerus, et do-
morum quinque ac viginti millium : stringunt alij, ingens tamen faten-
tur et celebre. Hortis intersecantur domus, quse sunt egregie lapidi-
bus et cake fabrefactce, maxima industria et architectorum arte." (De
Insulis, p. 349.) With his usual inquisitive spirit, he gleaned all the
particulars from the old pilot Alaminos, and from two of the officers
of Cortes who revisited Spain in the course of that year. Tabasco
was in the neighborhood of those ruined cities of Yucatan which have
lately been the theme of so much speculation. The encomiums of
Martyr are not so remarkable as the apathy of other contemporary
chroniclers.
Vol. I. 24
278 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
Cortes, having thus made himself master of the town,
took formal possession of it for the crown of Castile.
He gave three cuts with his sword on a large ce/fra-tree
which grew in the place, and proclaimed aloud that he
took possession of the city in the name and behalf of
the Catholic sovereigns, and would maintain and de-
fend the same with sword and buckler against all who
should gainsay it. The same vaunting declaration
was also made by the soldiers, and the whole was duly
recorded and attested by the notary. This was the
usual simple but chivalric form with which the Spanish
cavaliers asserted the royal title to the conquered terri-
tories in the New World. It was a good title, doubt-
less, against the claims of any other European potentate.
The general took up his quarters that night in the
court-yard of the principal temple. He posted his sen-
tinels, and took all the precautions practised in wars
with a civilized foe. Indeed, there was reason for
them. A suspicious silence seemed to reign through
the place and its neighborhood ; and tidings were
brought that the interpreter, Melchorejo, had fled,
leaving his Spanish dress hanging on a tree. Cortes
was disquieted by the desertion of this man, who would
not only inform his countrymen of the small number
of the Spaniards, but dissipate any illusions that might
be entertained of their superior natures.
On the following morning, as no traces of the enemy
were visible, Cortes ordered out a detachment under
Alvarado, and another under Francisco de Lujo, to
reconnoitre. The latter officer had not advanced a
league, before he learned the position of the Indians,
by their attacking him in such force that he was fain
ARMY ARRIVES AT TABASCO.
279
to take shelter in a large stone building, where he was
closely besieged. Fortunately, the loud yells of the
assailants, like most barbarous nations seeking to strike
terror by their ferocious cries, reached the ears of
Alvarado and his men, who, speedily advancing to
the relief of their comrades, enabled them to force
a passage through the enemy. Both parties retreated,
closely pursued, on the town, when Cortes, marching
out to their support, compelled the Tabascans to
retire.
A few prisoners were taken in this skirmish. By
them Cortes found his worst apprehensions verified.
The country was everywhere in arms. A force con-
sisting of many thousands had assembled from the
neighboring provinces, and a general assault was re-
solved on for the next day. To the general's inquiries
why he had been received in so different a manner
from his predecessor, Grijalva, they answered that
"the conduct of the Tabascans then had given great
offence to the other Indian tribes, who taxed them with
treachery and cowardice ; so that they had promised,
on any return of the white men, to resist them in the
same manner as their neighbors had done." I4
Cortes might now well regret that he had allowed
himself to deviate from the direct object of his enter-
prise, and to become entangled in a doubtful war
which could lead to no profitable result. But it was
too late to repent. He had taken the step, and had
no alternative but to go forward. To retreat would
M Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 31, 32. — Gomara, Cr6-
nica, cap. 18. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indi&s, MS., lib. 3, cap. 118,
119. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 78, 79.
280 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
dishearten his own men at the outset, impair their
confidence in him as their leader, and confirm the
arrogance of his foes, the tidings of whose success
might precede him on his voyage and prepare the way
for greater mortifications and defeats. He did not
hesitate as to the course he was to pursue, but, calling
his officers together, announced his intention to give
battle the following morning. ,s
He sent back to the vessels such as were disabled by
their wounds, and ordered the remainder of the forces
to join the camp. Six of the heavy guns were also
taken from the ships, together with all the horses. The
animals were stiff and torpid from long confinement
on board ; but a few hours' exercise restored them to
their strength and usual spirit. He gave the command
of the artillery — if it may be dignified with the name — to
a soldier named Mesa, who had acquired some experi-
ence as an engineer in the Italian wars. The infantry
he put under the orders of Diego de Ordaz, and took
charge of the cavalry himself. It consisted of some
of the most valiant gentlemen of his little band,
among whom may be mentioned Alvarado, Velasquez
de Leon, Avila, Puertocarrero, Olid, Montejo. Having
thus made all the necessary arrangements, and settled
his plan of battle, he retired to rest, — but not to
slumber. His feverish mind, as may well be imagined,
was filled with anxiety for the morrow, which might
decide the fate of his expedition ; and, as was his
'5 According to Solis, who quotes the address of Cortes on the occa-
sion, he summoned a council of his captains to advise him as to the
course he should pursue. (Conquista, cap. 19.) It is possible ; but
I find no warrant for it anywhere.
PREPARA TION FOR BA TTLE. 2 8 1
wont on such occasions, he was frequently observed,
during the night, going the rounds, and visiting the
sentinels, to see that no one slept upon his post.
At the first glimmering of light he mustered his
army, and declared his purpose not to abide, cooped
up in the town, the assault of the enemy, but to march
at once against him For he well knew that the spirits
rise with action, and that the attacking party gathers a
confidence from the very movement, which is not felt
by the one who is passively, perhaps anxiously, await-
ing the assault. The Indians were understood to be
encamped on a level ground a few miles distant from
the city, called the plain of Ceutla. The general
commanded that Ordaz should march with the foot,
including the artillery, directly across the country, and
attack them in front, while he himself would fetch a
circuit with the horse, and turn their flank when thus
engaged, or fall upon their rear.
These dispositions being completed, the little army
heard mass and then sallied forth from the wooden
walls of Tabasco. It was Lady-day, the twenty-fifth of
March, — long memorable in the annals of New Spain.
The district around the town was checkered with
patches of maize, and, on the lower level, with planta-
tions of cacao, — supplying the beverage, and perhaps
the coin, of the country, as in Mexico. These plan-
tations, requiring constant irrigation, were fed by
numerous canals and reservoirs of water, so that the
country could not be traversed without great toil and
difficulty. It was, however, intersected by a narrow path
or causeway over which the cannon could be dragged.
The troops advanced more than a league on their
24*
282 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
laborious march, without descrying the enemy. The
weather was sultry, but few of them were embarrassed
by the heavy mail worn by the European cavaliers at
that period. Their cotton jackets, thickly quilted,
afforded a tolerable protection against the arrows of the
Indians, and allowed room for the freedom and activity
of movement essential to a life of rambling adventure
in the wilderness.
At length they came in sight of the broad plains of
Ceutla, and beheld the dusky lines of the enemy stretch-
ing, as far as the eye could reach, along the edge of
the horizon. The Indians had shown some sagacity in
the choice of their position ; and, as the weary Span-
iards came slowly on, floundering through the morass,
the Tabascans set up their hideous battle-cries, and
discharged volleys of arrows, stones, and other missiles,
which rattled like hail on the shields and helmets of
the assailants. Many were severely wounded before
they could gain the firm ground, where they soon
cleared a space for themselves, and opened a heavy
fire of artillery and musketry on the dense columns
of the enemy, which presented a fatal mark for the
balls. Numbers were swept down at every discharge ;
but the bold barbarians, far from being dismayed,
threw up dust and leaves to hide their losses, and,
sounding their war-instruments, shot off fresh flights
of arrows in return.
They even pressed closer on the Spaniards, and, when
driven off by a vigorous charge, soon turned again,
and, rolling back like the waves of the ocean, seemed
ready to overwhelm the little band by weight of num-
bers. Thus cramped, the latter had scarcely room to
GREAT BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 283
perform their necessary evolutions, or even to work
their guns with effect. 16
The engagement had now lasted more than an hour,
and the Spaniards, sorely pressed, looked with great
anxiety for the arrival of the horse — which some un-
accountable impediments must have detained — to re-
lieve them from their perilous position. At this crisis,
the farthest columns of the Indian army were seen to
be agitated and thrown into a disorder that rapidly
spread through the whole mass. It was not long before
the ears of the Christians were saluted with the cheer-
ing war-cry of " San Jago and San Pedro !" and they
beheld the bright helmets and swords of the Castilian
chivalry flashing back the rays of the morning sun, as
they dashed through the ranks of the enemy, striking
to the right and left, and scattering dismay around
them. The eye of faith, indeed, could discern the
patron Saint of Spain, himself, mounted on his gray
war-horse, heading the rescue and trampling over the
bodies of the fallen infidels ! I?
16 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 119. — Gomara,
Cronica, cap. 19, 20. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 4, cap. II. —
Martyr, De Insulis, p. 350. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 79.
— Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 33, 36. — Carta de Vera
Cruz, MS.
*7 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 79. — " Cortes supposed it
was his own tutelar saint, St. Peter," says Pizarro y Orellana; "but
the common and indubitable opinion is that it was our glorious apostle
St. James, the bulwark and safeguard of our nation." (Varones
ilustres, p. 73.) " Sinner that I am," exclaims honest Bernal Diaz, in
a more skeptical vein, " it was not permitted to me to see either the
one or the other of the Apostles on this occasion." Hist, de la Con-
quista, cap. 34.*
• [The remark of Bernal Diaz is not to be taken as ironical. His
faith in the same vision on subsequent occasions is expressed without
284 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
The approach of Cortes had been greatly retarded
by the broken nature of the ground. When he came
up, the Indians were so hotly engaged that he was upon
them before they observed his approach. He ordered
his men to direct their lances at the faces of their
opponents, 18 who, terrified at the monstrous apparition,
— for they supposed the rider and the horse, which
they had never before seen, to be one and the same, 19
— were seized with a panic. Ordaz availed himself of
it to command a general charge along the line, and the
Indians, many of them throwing away their arms, fled
without attempting further resistance.
18 It was the order — as the reader may remember — given by Caesar
to his followers in his battle with Pompey :
' Adversosque jubet ferro confundere vultus."
Lucan, Pharsalia, lib. 7, v. 573.
»9 " Equites," says Paolo Giovio, "unum integrum Centaurorum
specie animal esse existimarent." Elogia Virorum Illustrium (Basil,
1696), lib. 6, p. 229.
demur. In the present case he recognized the rider of the gray horse as
a Spanish cavalier, Francisco de Morla. It appears from the account
of Andres de Tapia, another companion of Cortes, whose narrative has
been recently published, that, owing to canals and other impediments,
the cavalry was unable to effect the intended detour, and it therefore
returned and joined the infantry. The latter, meanwhile, having seen a
cavalier on a gray horse charging the Indians in their rear, supposed
that the cavalry had penetrated to that quarter. Cortes, on hearing
this, exclaimed, " Adelante, compaiieros, que Dios es con nosotros."
(Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc. para la Hist, de Mexico, torn, i.) Tdpia says
nothing about St. James or St. Peter, and perhaps suspected that the
incident was a ruse contrived by Cortes. Generally, however, such
legends seem to be sufficiently explained by the religious belief and
excited imagination of the narrators. See the remarks, on this point,
of Macaulay, who notices the account of Diaz, in the introduction to
his lay of the Battle of the Lake Regillus. — Ed.]
GREAT BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 285
Cortes was too content with the victory to care to
follow it up by dipping his sword in the blood of the
fugitives. He drew off his men to a copse of palms
which skirted the place, and under their broad canopy
the soldiers offered up thanksgivings to the Almighty
for the victory vouchsafed them. The field of battle
was made the site of a town, called, in honor of the
day on which the action took place, Sa?ita Maria de la
Victoria, long afterwards the capital of the province. 20
The number of those who fought or fell in the engage-
ment is altogether doubtful. Nothing, indeed, is more
uncertain than numerical estimates of barbarians. And
they gain nothing in probability when they come, as
in the present instance, from the reports of their
enemies. Most accounts, however, agree that the
Indian force consisted of five squadrons of eight
thousand men each. There is more discrepancy as to
the number of slain, varying from one to thirty thou-
sand ! In this monstrous discordance, the common
disposition to exaggerate may lead us to look for truth
in the neighborhood of the smallest number. The
loss of the Christians was inconsiderable ; not exceed-
ing — if we receive their own reports, probably, from
the same causes, much diminishing the truth — two
killed and less than a hundred wounded ! We may
readily comprehend the feelings of the Conquerors,
when they declared that "Heaven must have fought
on their side, since their own strength could never
have prevailed against such a multitude of enemies !" 3I
20 Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. iii. p. 11.
21 " Crean Vras. Reales Altezas por cierto, que esta batalla fu<5
vencida mas por voluntad de Dios que por nras. fuerzas, porque para
286 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
Several prisoners were taken in the battle, among
them two chiefs. Cortes gave them their liberty, and
sent a message by them to their countrymen " that
he would overlook the past, if they would come in
at once and tender their submission. Otherwise he
would ride over the land, and put every living thing
in it, man, woman, and child, to the sword ! ' ' With
this formidable menace ringing in their ears, the envoys
departed.
But the Tabascans had no relish for further hostil-
ities. A body of inferior chiefs appeared the next
day, clad in dark dresses of cotton, intimating their
abject condition, and implored leave to bury their
dead. It was granted by the general, with many
assurances of his friendly disposition ; but at the same
time he told them he expected their principal caciques,
as he would treat with none other. These soon pre-
sented themselves, attended by a numerous train of vas-
sals, who followed with timid curiosity to the Christian
camp. Among their propitiatory gifts were twenty
female slaves, which, from the character of one of
them, proved of infinitely more consequence than was
anticipated by either Spaniards or Tabascans. Con-
fidence was soon restored, and was succeeded by a
friendly intercourse, and the interchange of Spanish
toys for the rude commodities of the country, articles
con quarenta mil hombres de guerra, poca defensa fuera quatrozientos
que nosotros eramos." (Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Gomara, Cronica,
cap. 20. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 35.) It is Las
Casas, who, regulating his mathematics, as usual, by his feelings, rates
the Indian loss at the exorbitant amount cited in the text. " This,"
he concludes, dryly, " was the first preaching of the gospel by Cortes
in New Spain!" Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 119.
CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCED. 287
of food, cotton, and a few gold ornaments of little
value. When asked where the precious metal was
procured, they pointed to the west, and answered,
"Culhua," "Mexico." The Spaniards saw this was
no place for them to traffic, or to tarry in. Yet here,
they were not many leagues distant from a potent and
opulent city, or what once had been so, the ancient Pa-
lenque. But its glory may have even then passed away,
and its name have been forgotten by the surrounding
nations.
Before his departure the Spanish commander did not
omit to provide for one great object of his expedition,
the conversion of the Indians. He first represented to
the caciques that he had been sent thither by a power-
ful monarch on the other side of the water, for whom
he had now a right to claim their allegiance. He
then caused the reverend fathers Olmedo and Diaz
to enlighten their minds, as far as possible, in regard
to the great truths of revelation, urging them to
receive these in place of their own heathenish abomi-
nations. The Tabascans, whose perceptions were no
doubt materially quickened by the discipline they had
undergone, made but a faint resistance to either pro-
posal. The next day was Palm Sunday, and the
general resolved to celebrate their conversion by one
of those pompous ceremonials of the Church, which
should make a lasting impression on their minds.
A solemn procession was formed of the whole army,
with the ecclesiastics at their head, each soldier bearing
a palm-branch in his hand. The concourse was swelled
by thousands of Indians of both sexes, who followed
in curious astonishment at the spectacle. The long
288 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
files bent their way through the flowery savannas that
bordered the settlement, to the principal temple, where
an altar was raised, and the image of the presiding
deity was deposed to make room for that of the Virgin
with the infant Saviour. Mass was celebrated by
Father Olmedo, and the soldiers who were capable
joined in the solemn chant. The natives listened in
profound silence, and, if we may believe the chronicler
of the event who witnessed it, were melted into tears;
while their hearts were penetrated with reverential
awe for the God of those terrible beings who seemed
to wield in their own hands the thunder and the
lightning. 22
The Roman Catholic communion has, it must be
admitted, some decided advantages over the Protestant,
for the purposes of proselytism. The dazzling pomp
of its service and its touching appeal to the sensibili-
ties affect the imagination of the rude child of nature
much more powerfully than the cold abstractions of
Protestantism, which, addressed to the reason, demand
a degree of refinement and mental culture in the audi-
ence to comprehend them. The respect, moreover,
shown by the Catholic for the material representations
of Divinity, greatly facilitates the same object. It is
true, such representations are used by him only as
incentives, not as the objects of worship. But this
distinction is lost on the savage, who finds such forms
of adoration too analogous to his own to impose any
great violence on his feelings. It is only required of
32 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 21, 22. — Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. —
Martyr, De Insulis, p. 351. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., ubi
supra.
CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCED. 289
him to transfer his homage from the image of Quetzal-
coatl, the benevolent deity who walked among men, to
that of the Virgin or the Redeemer ; from the Cross,
which he has worshipped as the emblem of the god
of rain, to the same Cross, the symbol of salvation.
These solemnities concluded, Cortes prepared to
return to his ships, well satisfied with the impression
made on the new converts, and with the conquests he
had thus achieved for Castile and Christianity. The
soldiers, taking leave of their Indian friends, entered
the boats with the palm-branches in their hands, and,
descending the river, re-embarked on board their ves-
sels, which rode at anchor at its mouth. A favorable
breeze was blowing, and the little navy, opening its
sails to receive it, was soon on its way again to the
golden shores of Mexico.
Vol. I. — n 25
CHAPTER V.
VOYAGE ALONG THE COAST. DONA MARINA. SPAN-
IARDS LAND IN MEXICO. INTERVIEW WITH THE
AZTECS.
The fleet held its course so near the shore that the
inhabitants could be seen on it ; and, as it swept along
the winding borders of the Gulf, the soldiers, who had
been on the former expedition with Grijalva, pointed
out to their companions the memorable places on the
coast. Here was the Rio de Alvarado, named after the
gallant adventurer, who was present also in this ex-
pedition ; there the Rio de Vanderas, in which Grijalva
had carried on so lucrative a commerce with the Mexi-
cans ; and there the Is/a de los Sacrificios, where the
Spaniards first saw the vestiges of human sacrifice on
the coast. Puertocarrero, as he listened to these
reminiscences of the sailors, repeated the words of the
old ballad of Montesinos, " Here is France, there is
Paris, and there the waters of the Duero," * etc. "But
i "Cata Francia, Montesinos,
Cata Paris la ciudad,
Cata las aguas de Duero
Do van a dar en la mar."
They are the words of the popular old ballad, first published, I be-
lieve, in the Romancero de Amberes, and lately by Dursji, Romances
caballerescos 6 histdricos, Parte I, p. 82.
(290)
ARRIVAL AT SAN JUAN DE ULUA. 291
I advise you," he added, turning to Cortes, "to look
out only for the rich lands, and the best way to govern
them." "Fear not," replied his commander: "if
Fortune but favors me as she did Orlando, and I have
such gallant gentlemen as you for my companions, I
shall understand myself very well." 2
The fleet had now arrived off San Juan de Ulua, the
island so named by Grijalva. The weather was tem-
perate and serene, and crowds of natives were gathered
on the shore of the main land, gazing at the strange
phenomenon, as the vessels glided along under easy
sail on the smooth bosom of the waters. It was the
evening of Thursday in Passion Week. The air came
pleasantly off the shore, and Cortes, liking the spot,
thought he might safely anchor under the lee of the
island, which would shelter him from the ?iortes that
sweep over these seas with fatal violence in the winter,
sometimes even late in the spring.
The ships had not been long at anchor, when a light
pirogue, filled with natives, shot off from the neighbor-
ing continent, and steered for the general's vessel, dis-
tinguished by the royal ensign of Castile floating from
the mast. The Indians came on board with a frank
confidence, inspired by the accounts of the Spaniards
spread by their countrymen who had traded with Gri-
jalva. They brought presents of fruits and flowers and
little ornaments of gold, which they gladly exchanged
for the usual trinkets. Cortes was baffled in his at-
tempts to hold a conversation with his visitors by
means of the interpreter, Aguilar, who was ignorant of
the language ; the Mayan dialects, with which he was
2 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 37.
292
DISCO VER Y OF MEXICO.
conversant, bearing too little resemblance to the Aztec.
The natives supplied the deficiency, as far as possible,
by the uncommon vivacity and significance of their
gestures, — the hieroglyphics of speech 3 but the Span-
ish commander saw with chagrin the embarrassments he
must encounter in future for want of a more perfect
medium of communication. 3 In this dilemma, he was
informed that one of the female slaves given to him by
the Tabascan chiefs was a native Mexican, and under-
stood the language. Her name — that given to her by
the Spaniards — was Marina; and, as she was to ex-
ercise a most important influence on their fortunes, it
is necessary to acquaint the reader with something of
her character and history.
She was born at Painalla, in the province of Coatza-
cualco, on the southeastern borders of the Mexican
empire. Her father, a rich and powerful cacique, died
when she was very young. Her mother married again,
and, having a son, she conceived the infamous idea of
securing to this offspring of her second union Marina's
rightful inheritance. She accordingly feigned that the
latter was dead, but secretly delivered her into the
hands of some itinerant traders of Xicallanco. She
availed herself, at the same time, of the death of a
child of one of her slaves, to substitute the corpse for
that of her own daughter, and celebrated the obsequies
with mock solemnity. These particulars are related by
3 Las Casas notices the significance of the Indian gestures as imply-
ing a most active imagination: " Senas e meneos con que los Yndios
mucho mas que otras generaciones entienden y se dan a entender, por
tener muy bivos los sentidos exteriores y tambien los interiores, mayor-
mente que es admirable su imaginacion." Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib.
3, cap. 120.
DOtfA MARINA.
2 93
the honest old soldier Bernal Diaz, who knew the
mother, and witnessed the generous treatment of her
afterwards by Marina. By the merchants the Indian
maiden was again sold to the cacique of Tabasco, who
delivered her, as we have seen, to the Spaniards.
From the place of her birth, she was well acquainted
with the Mexican tongue, which, indeed, she is said to
have spoken with great elegance. Her residence in
Tabasco familiarized her with the dialects of that coun-
try, so that she could carry on a conversation with
Aguilar, which he in turn rendered into the Castilian.
Thus a certain though somewhat circuitous channel was
opened to Cortes for communicating with the Aztecs ;
a circumstance of the last importance to the success of
his enterprise. It was not very long, however, before
Marina, who had a lively genius, made herself so far
mistress of the Castilian as to supersede the necessity
of any other linguist. She learned it the more readily,
as it was to her the language of love.
Cortes, who appreciated the value of her services
from the first, made her his interpreter, then his sec-
retary, and, won by her charms, his mistress. She had
a son by him, Don Martin Cortes, comendador of the
Military Order of St. James, less distinguished by his
birth than his unmerited persecutions.
Marina was at this time in the morning of life. She
is said to have possessed uncommon personal attrac-
tions, 4 and her open, expressive features indicated her
4 " Hermosa como Diosa," beautiful as a goddess, says Camargo of
her. (Hist, de Tlascala, MS.) A modern poet pays her charms the
following not inelegant tribute :
" Admira tan lucida cabalgada
Y espectaculo tal Dona Marina,
25*
2 9 4
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
generous temper. She always remained faithful to the
countrymen of her adoption ; and her knowledge of
the language and customs of the Mexicans, and often
of their designs, enabled her to extricate the Spaniards,
more than once, from the most embarrassing and peril-
ous situations. She had her errors, as we have seen.
But they should be rather charged to the defects of
early education, and to the evil influence of him to
whom in the darkness of her spirit she looked with
simple confidence for the light to guide her. All agree
that she was full of excellent qualities, and the impor-
tant services which she rendered the Spaniards have
made her memory deservedly dear to them ; while the
name of Malinche s — the name by which she is still
knoAvn in Mexico — was pronounced with kindness by
the conquered races, with whose misfortunes she showed
an invariable sympathy. 6
India noble al caudillo presentada,
De fortuna y belleza peregrina.
# # * * # *
Con despejado espiritu y viveza
Gira la vista en el concurso mudo;
Rico manto de extrema sutileza
Con chapas de oro autorizarla pudo,
Prendido con bizarra gentileza
Sobre los pechos en ayroso nudo ;
Reyna parcce de la Indiana Zona,
Varonil y hermosisima Amazona."
Moratin, Las Naves de Cortes destruidas.
5 [" Malinche" is a corruption of the Aztec word " Malintzin," which
is itself a corruption of the Spanish name " Marina." The Aztecs,
having no r in their alphabet, substituted / for it, while the ter-
mination tzin was added in token of respect, so that the name was
equivalent to Dona or Lady Marina. Conquista de Mejico (trad, de
Vega, anotada por D. Lucas Alaman), torn. ii. pp. 17, 269.]
6 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120. — Gomara,
Cronica, cap. 25, 26. — Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. iii. pp. 12-
SPANIARDS LAND IN MEXICO.
295
With the aid of his two intelligent interpreters,
Cortes entered into conversation with his Indian vis-
itors. He learned that they were Mexicans, or rather
subjects of the great Mexican empire, of which their
own province formed one of the comparatively recent
conquests. The country was ruled by a powerful mon-
arch, called Moctheuzoma, or by Europeans more com-
monly Montezuma, 7 who dwelt on the mountain plains
of the interior, nearly seventy leagues from the coast;
their own province was governed by one of his nobles,
named Teuhtlile, whose residence was eight leagues
distant. Cortes acquainted them in turn with his own
friendly views in visiting their country, and with his
desire of an interview with the Aztec governor. He
then dismissed them loaded with presents, having first
ascertained that there was abundance of gold in the
interior, like the specimens they had brought.
Cortes, pleased with the manners of the people and
the goodly reports of the land, resolved to take up his
quarters here for the present. The next morning, April
21, being Good Friday, he landed, with all his force, on
14. — Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 33, cap. 1. — Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 79. — Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Bernal
Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 37, 38. — There is some discordance in
the notices of the early life of Marina. I have followed Bernal Diaz, —
from his means of observation, the best authority. There is happily
no difference in the estimate of her singular merits and services.
7 The name of the Aztec monarch, like those of most persons and
places in New Spain, has been twisted into all possible varieties of
orthography. Cortes, in his letters, calls him " Muteczuma." Modern
Spanish historians usually spell his name " Motezuma." I have pre-
ferred to conform to the name by which he is usually known to English
readers. It is the one adopted by Bernal Diaz, and by most writers
near the time of the Conquest. Alaman, Disertaciones historicas,
torn, i., apend. 2.
296 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
the very spot where now stands the modern city of
Vera Cruz. Little did the Conqueror imagine that
the desolate beach on which he first planted his foot
was one day to be covered by a flourishing city, the
great mart of European and Oriental trade, the com-
mercial capital of New Spain. 8
It was a wide and level plain, except where the sand
had been drifted into hillocks by the perpetual blow-
ing of the norte. On these sand-hills he mounted his
little battery of guns, so as to give him the command of
the country. He then employed the troops in cutting
down small trees and bushes which grew near, in order
to provide a shelter from the weather. In this he was
aided by the people of the country, sent, as it appeared,
by the governor of the district to assist the Spaniards.
With their help stakes were firmly set in the earth, and
covered with boughs, and with mats and cotton car-
pets, which the friendly natives brought with them. In
this way they secured, in a couple of days, a good
defence against the scorching rays of the sun, which
beat with intolerable fierceness on the sands. The place
was surrounded by stagnant marshes, the exhalations
from which, quickened by the heat into the pestilent
malaria, have occasioned in later times wider mortality
to Europeans than all the hurricanes on the coast. The
bilious disorders, now the terrible scourge of the tierra
caliente, were little known before the Conquest. The
8 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 79. — Clavigero, Stor. del
Messico, torn. iii. p. 16. — New Vera Cruz, as the present town is called,
is distinct, as we shall see hereafter, from that established by Cortes,
and was not founded till the close of the sixteenth century, by the
Conde de Monterey, Viceroy of Mexico. It received its privileges
as a city from Philip III. in 1615. Ibid., torn. iii. p. 30, nota.
INTERVIEW WITH THE AZTECS.
297
seeds of the poison seem to have been scattered by the
hand of civilization ; for it is only necessary to settle
a town, and draw together a busy European population,
in order to call out the malignity of the venom which
had before lurked innoxious in the atmosphere. 9
While these arrangements were in progress, the na-
tives flocked in from the adjacent district, which was
tolerably populous in the interior, drawn by a natural
curiosity to see the wonderful strangers. They brought
with them fruits, vegetables, flowers in abundance,
game, and many dishes cooked after the fashion of the
country, with little articles of gold and other orna-
ments. They gave away some as presents, and bar-
tered others for the wares of the Spaniards ; so that
the camp, crowded with a motley throng of every age
and sex, wore the appearance of a fair. From some
of the visitors Cortes learned the intention of the
governor to wait on him the following day.
This was Easter. Teuhtlile arrived, as he had an-
nounced, before noon. He was attended by a numer-
ous train, and was met by Cortes, who conducted him
9 The epidemic of the matlazahuatl, so fatal to the Aztecs, is shown
by M. de Humboldt to have been essentially different from the vomito,
or bilious fever of our day. Indeed, this disease is not noticed by the
early conquerors and colonists, and, Clavigero asserts, was not known
in Mexico till 1725. (Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p. 117, nota.) Hum-
boldt, however, arguing that the same physical causes must have
produced similar results, carries the disease back to a much higher
antiquity, of which he discerns some traditional and historic vestiges.
" II ne faut pas confondre l'epoque," he remarks, with his usual pen-
etration, " a laquelle une maladie a et^ decrite pour la premiere fois,
parce qu'elle a fait de grands ravages dans un court espace de temps,
avec l'epoque de sa premiere apparition." Essai politique, torn. iv. p.
161 et seq., and 179.
N*
298 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
with much ceremony to his tent, where his principal
officers were assembled. The Aztec chief returned
their salutations with polite though formal courtesy.
Mass was first said by Father Olmedo, and the service
was listened to by Teuhtlile and his attendants with
decent reverence. A collation was afterwards served,
at which the general entertained his guest with Spanish
wines and confections. The interpreters were then in-
troduced, and a conversation commenced between the
parties.
The first inquiries of Teuhtlile were respecting the
country of the strangers and the purport of their visit.
Cortes told him that "he was the subject of a potent
monarch beyond the seas, who ruled over an immense
empire, and had kings and princes for his vassals ; that,
acquainted with the greatness of the Mexican emperor,
his master had desired to enter into a communication
with him, and had sent him as his envoy to wait on
Montezuma with a present in token of his good will,
and a message which he must deliver in person." He
concluded by inquiring of Teuhtlile when he could be
admitted to his sovereign's presence.
To this the Aztec noble somewhat haughtily replied,
"How is it that you have been here only two days,
and demand to see the emperor?" He then added,
with more courtesy, that " he was surprised to learn
there was another monarch as powerful as Montezuma,
but that, if it were so, he had no doubt his master
would be happy to communicate with him. He would
send his couriers with the royal gift brought by the
Spanish commander, and, so soon as he had learned
Montezuma's will, would communicate it."
INTERVIEW WITH THE AZTECS.
299
Teuhtlile then commanded his slaves to bring for-
ward the present intended for the Spanish general. It
consisted of ten loads of fine cottons, several mantles
of that curious feather-work whose rich and delicate
dyes might vie with the most beautiful painting, and
a wicker basket filled with ornaments of wrought
gold, all calculated to inspire the Spaniards with high
ideas of the wealth and mechanical ingenuity of the
Mexicans.
Cortes received these presents with suitable acknowl-
edgments, and ordered his own attendants to lay before
the chief the articles designed for Montezuma. These
were an arm-chair richly carved and painted, a crimson
cap of cloth, having a gold medal emblazoned with St.
George and the dragon, and a quantity of collars,
bracelets, and other ornaments of cut glass, which, in
a country where glass was not to be had, might claim
to have the value of real gems, and no doubt passed
for such with the inexperienced Mexican. Teuhtlile
observed a soldier in the camp with a shining gilt
helmet on his head, which he said reminded him of
one worn by the god Quetzalcoatl in Mexico ; and he
showed a desire that Montezuma should see it. The
coming of the Spaniards, as the reader will soon see,
was associated with some traditions of this same deity.
Cortes expressed his willingness that the casque should
be sent to the emperor, intimating a hope that it would
be returned filled with the gold dust of the country,
that he might be able to compare its quality with that
in his own ! He further told the governor, as we are
informed by his chaplain, "that the Spaniards were
troubled with a disease of the heart, for which gold was
3 oo DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
a specific remedy"! 10 "In short," says Las Casas,
" he contrived to make his want of gold very clear to
the governor. ' ' "
While these things were passing, Cortes observed
one of Teuhtlile's attendants busy with a pencil, ap-
parently delineating some object. On looking at his
work, he found that it was a sketch on canvas of the
Spaniards, their costumes, arms, and, in short, different
objects of interest, giving to each its appropriate form
and color. This was the celebrated picture-writing of
the Aztecs, and, as Teuhtlile informed him, this man
was employed in portraying the various objects for the
eye of Montezuma, who would thus gather a more vivid
notion of their appearance than from any description
by words. Cortes was pleased with the idea ; and, as
he knew how much the effect would be heightened by
converting still life into action, he ordered out the
cavalry on the beach, the wet sands of which afforded
a firm footing for the horses. The bold and rapid
movements of the troops, as they went through their
military exercises ; the apparent ease with which they
managed the fiery animals on which they were mounted ;
the glancing of their weapons, and the shrill cry of the
trumpet, all filled the spectators with astonishment ;
but when they heard the thunders of the cannon, which
Cortes ordered to be fired at the same time, and wit-
nessed the volumes of smoke and flame issuing from
these terrible engines, and the rushing sound of the
balls, as they dashed through the trees of the neigh-
boring forest, shivering their branches into fragments,
10 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 26.
11 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 119.
INTERVIEW WITH THE AZTECS.
301
they were filled with consternation, from which the
Aztec chief himself was not wholly free.
Nothing of all this was lost on the painters, who
faithfully recorded, after their fashion, every partic-
ular; not omitting the ships, — "the water-houses," as
they called them, of the strangers, — which, with their
dark hulls and snow-white sails reflected from the
water, were swinging lazily at anchor on the calm
bosom of the bay. All was depicted with a fidelity
that excited in their turn the admiration of the Span-
iards, who, doubtless, unprepared for this exhibition of
skill, greatly overestimated the merits of the execution.*
These various matters completed, Teuhtlile with his
attendants withdrew from the Spanish quarters, with
the same ceremony with which he had entered them ;
leaving orders that his people should supply the troops
with provisions and other articles requisite for their ac-
commodation, till further instructions from the capital. 12
12 Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, MS., No. 13. — Idem, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 79. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 25, 26. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la
Conquista, cap. 38. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 4. —
Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap.
13-15. — Tezozomoc, Cron. Mexicana, MS., cap. 107.
* [According to a curious document published by Icazbalceta (Col.
de Doc. para la Hist, de Mexico, torn, ii.), two of the principal caciques
present on this occasion communicated secretly with Cortes, and,
declaring themselves disaffected subjects of Montezuma, offered to
facilitate the advance of the Spaniards by furnishing the general with
paintings in which the various features of the country would be cor-
rectly delineated. The offer was accepted, and on the next visit the
paintings were produced, and proved subsequently of great service to
Cortes, who rewarded the donors with certain grants. But the genuine-
ness of this paper, though supported by so distinguished a scholar as
Senor Ramirez, is more than questionable. — Ed.]
Vol. I. 26
CHAPTER VI.
ACCOUNT OF MONTEZUMA. — STATE OF HIS EMPIRE. —
STRANGE PROGNOSTICS. — EMBASSY AND PRESENTS. —
SPANISH ENCAMPMENT.
1519.
We must now take leave of the Spanish camp in the
tierra caliente, and transport ourselves to the distant
capital of Mexico, where no little sensation was excited
by the arrival of the wonderful strangers on the coast.
The Aztec throne was filled at that time by Montezuma
the Second, nephew of the last, and grandson of a
preceding monarch. He had been elected to the regal
dignity in 1502, in preference to his brothers, for his
superior qualifications both as a soldier and a priest, —
a combination of offices sometimes found in the Mexican
candidates, as it was more frequently in the Egyptian.
In early youth he had taken an active part in the wars
of the empire, though of late he had devoted himself
more exclusively to the services of the temple ; and he
was scrupulous in his attentions to all the burdensome
ceremonial of the Aztec worship. He maintained a
grave and reserved demeanor, speaking little and with
prudent deliberation. His deportment was well calcu-
lated to inspire ideas of superior sanctity. 1
1 His name suited his nature; Montezuma, according to Las Casas,
signifying, in the Mexican, " sad or severe man." Hist, de las Indias,
(3° 2 )
ACCOUNT OF MONTEZUMA. 303
When his election was announced to him, he was
found sweeping down the stairs in the great temple of
the national war-god. He received the messengers with
a becoming humility, professing his unfitness for so re-
sponsible a station. The address delivered as usual on
the occasion was made by his relative Nezahualpilli,
the wise king of Tezcuco. 2 It has, fortunately, been
preserved, and presents a favorable specimen of Indian
eloquence. Towards the conclusion, the orator ex-
claims, "Who can doubt that the Aztec empire has
reached the zenith of its greatness, since the Almighty
has placed over it one whose very presence fills every
beholder with reverence ? Rejoice, happy people, that
you have now a sovereign who will be to you a steady
column of support ; a father in distress, a more than
brother in tenderness and sympathy ; one whose aspir-
ing soul will disdain all the profligate pleasures of the
senses and the wasting indulgence of sloth. And thou,
illustrious youth, doubt not that the Creator, who has
laid on thee so weighty a charge, will also give strength
to sustain it ; that He, who has been so liberal in times
past, will shower yet more abundant blessings on thy
head, and keep thee firm in thy royal seat through
many long and glorious years." These golden prog-
nostics, which melted the royal auditor into tears, were
not destined to be realized. 3
MS., lib. 3, cap. 120. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 70. —
Acosta, lib. 7, cap. 20. — Col. de Mendoza, pp. 13-16 ; Codex Te).-
Rem., p. 143, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi.
- For a full account of this prince, see Book I., chap. 6.
3 The address is fully reported by Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib.
3, cap. 68), who came into the country little more than half a century
after its delivery. It has been recently republished by Bustamante.
Tezcuco en los ultimos Tiempos (Mexico, 1826), pp. 256-258.
3°4
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
Montezuma displayed all the energy and enterprise
in the commencement of his reign which had been
anticipated from him. His first expedition against a
rebel province in the neighborhood was crowned with
success, and he led back in triumph a throng of cap-
tives for the bloody sacrifice that was to grace his coro-
nation. This was celebrated with uncommon pomp.
Games and religious ceremonies continued for several
days, and among the spectators who flocked from dis-
tant quarters were some noble Tlascalans, the hereditary
enemies of Mexico. They were in disguise, hoping
thus to elude detection. They were recognized, how-
ever, and reported to the monarch. But he only
availed himself of the information to provide them
with honorable entertainment and a good place for
witnessing the games. This was a magnanimous act,
considering the long-cherished hostility between the
nations.
In his first years, Montezuma was constantly engaged
in war, and frequently led his armies in person. The
Aztec banners were seen in the farthest provinces on
the Gulf of Mexico, and the distant regions of Nica-
ragua and Honduras. The expeditions were generally
successful ; and the limits of the empire were more
widely extended than at any preceding period.
Meanwhile the monarch was not inattentive to the
interior concerns of the kingdom. He made some im-
portant changes in the courts of justice, and carefully
watched over the execution of the laws, which he en-
forced with stern severity. He was in the habit of
patrolling the streets of his capital in disguise, to make
himself personally acquainted with the abuses in it.
ACCOUNT OF MONTEZUMA.
3°5
And with more questionable policy, it is said, he would
sometimes try the integrity of his judges by tempting
them with large bribes to swerve from their duty, and
then call the delinquent to strict account for yielding
to the temptation.
He liberally recompensed all who served him. He
showed a similar munificent spirit in his public works,
constructing and embellishing the temples, bringing
water into the capital by a new channel, and establish-
ing a hospital, or retreat for invalid soldiers, in the
city of Colhuacan. 4
These acts, so worthy of a great prince, were counter-
balanced by others of an opposite complexion. The
humility, displayed so ostentatiously before his eleva-
tion, gave way to an intolerable arrogance. In his
pleasure-houses, domestic establishment, and way of
living, he assumed a pomp unknown to his predeces-
sors. He secluded himself from public observation,
or, when he went abroad, exacted the most slavish
homage ; while in the palace he would be served only,
even in the most menial offices, by persons of rank.
He, further, dismissed several plebeians, chiefly poor
soldiers of merit, from the places they had occupied
near the person of his predecessor, considering their
attendance a dishonor to royalty. It was in vain that
his oldest and sagest counsellors remonstrated on a
conduct so impolitic.
While he thus disgusted his subjects by his haughty
deportment, he alienated their affections by the impo-
4 Acosta, lib. 7, cap. 22. — Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, lib. 8,
Prologo, et cap. 1. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 73, 74,
81. — Col. de Mendoza, pp. 14, 85, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi.
26*
306 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
sition of grievous taxes. These were demanded by the
lavish expenditure of his court. They fell with peculiar
heaviness on the conquered cities. This oppression
led to frequent insurrection and resistance ; and the
latter years of his reign present a scene of unintermit-
ting hostility, in which the forces of one half of the
empire were employed in suppressing the commotions
of the other. Unfortunately, there was no principle
of amalgamation by which the new acquisitions could
be incorporated into the ancient monarchy as parts
of one whole. Their interests, as well as sympathies,
were different. Thus the more widely the Aztec em-
pire was extended, the weaker it became ; resembling
some vast and ill-proportioned edifice, whose disjointed
materials, having no principle of cohesion, and totter-
ing under their own weight, seem ready to fall before
the first blast of the tempest.
In 15 16 died the Tezcucan king, Nezahualpilli ; in
whom Montezuma lost his most sagacious counsellor.
The succession was contested by his two sons, Cacama
and Ixtlilxochitl. The former was supported by Monte-
zuma. The latter, the younger of the princes, a bold,
aspiring youth, appealing to the patriotic sentiment of
his nation, would have persuaded them that his brother
was too much in the Mexican interests to be true to his
own country. A civil war ensued, and ended by a
compromise, by which one half of the kingdom, with
the capital, remained to Cacama, and the northern por-
tion to his ambitious rival. Ixtlilxochitl became from
that time the mortal foe of Montezuma. 3
s Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. i. pp. 267, 274, 275. — Ixtlilxo-
chitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 70-76. — Acosta, lib. 7, cap. 21.
STATE OF HIS EMPIRE.
3°7
A more formidable enemy still was the little republic
of Tlascala, lying midway between the Mexican Valley
and the coast. It had maintained its independence
for more than two centuries against the allied forces
of the empire. Its resources were unimpaired, its
civilization scarcely below that of its great rival states,
and for courage and military prowess it had established
a name inferior to none other of the nations of Anahuac.
Such was the condition of the Aztec monarchy on
the arrival of Cortes ; — the people disgusted with the
arrogance of the sovereign ; the provinces and distant
cities outraged by fiscal exactions ; while potent ene-
mies in the neighborhood lay watching the hour when
they might assail their formidable rival with advantage.
Still the kingdom was strong in its internal resources,
in the will of its monarch, in the long habitual defer-
ence to his authority, — in short, in the terror of his
name, and in the valor and discipline of his armies,
grown gray in active service, and well drilled in all the
tactics of Indian warfare. The time had now come
when these imperfect tactics and rude weapons of the
barbarian were to be brought into collision with the
science and enginery of the most civilized nations of
the globe.
During the latter years of his reign, Montezuma had
rarely taken part in his military expeditions, which he
left to his captains, occupying himself chiefly with his
sacerdotal functions. Under no prince had the priest-
hood enjoyed greater consideration and immunities.
The religious festivals and rites were celebrated with
unprecedented pomp. The oracles were consulted on
the most trivial occasions ; and the sanguinary deities
308 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
were propitiated by hecatombs of victims dragged in
triumph to the capital from the conquered or rebellious
provinces. The religion, or, to speak correctly, the
superstition of Montezuma proved a principal cause of
his calamities.
In a preceding chapter I have noticed the popular
traditions respecting Quetzalcoatl, that deity with a
fair complexion and flowing beard, so unlike the Indian
physiognomy, who, after fulfilling his mission of benev-
olence among the Aztecs, embarked on the Atlantic
Sea for the mysterious shores of Tlapallan. 6 He prom-
ised, on his departure, to return at some future day
with his posterity, and resume the possession of his
empire. That day was looked forward to with hope
or with apprehension, according to the interest of the
believer, but with general confidence, throughout the
wide borders of Anahuac. Even after the Conquest it
still lingered among the Indian races, by whom it was
as fondly cherished as the advent of their king Sebas-
tian continued to be by the Portuguese, or that of the
Messiah by the Jews. 7
A general feeling seems to have prevailed in the time
of Montezuma that the period for the return of the
deity and the full accomplishment of his promise was
near at hand. This conviction is said to have gained
ground from various preternatural occurrences, reported
with more or less detail by all the most ancient histo-
6 Ante, Book I., chap. 3, pp. 60, 61, and note 6.
7 Tezozomoc, Cron. Mexicana, MS., cap. 107. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist.
Chich., MS., cap. 1. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 14;
lib. 6, cap. 24. — Codex Vaticanus, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. —
Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espaiia, lib. 8, cap. 7. — Ibid., MS., lib. 12,
cap. 3, 4.
STRANGE PROGNOSTICS.
3°9
rians. 8 In 15 10 the great lake of Tezcuco, without
the occurrence of a tempest, or earthquake, or any
other visible cause, became violently agitated, over-
flowed its banks, and, pouring into the streets of Mex-
ico, swept off many of the buildings by the fury of the
waters. In 15 n one of the turrets of the great temple
took fire, equally without any apparent cause, and con-
tinued to burn in defiance of all attempts to extinguish
it. In the following years, three comets were seen ;
and not long before the coming of the Spaniards a
strange light broke forth in the east. It spread broad
at its base on the horizon, and rising in a pyramidal
form tapered off as it approached the zenith. It re-
sembled a vast sheet or flood of fire, emitting sparkles,
or, as an old writer expresses it, "seemed thickly
powdered with stars." 9 At the same time, low voices
were heard in the air, and doleful wailings, as if to
announce some strange, mysterious calamity ! The
Aztec monarch, terrified at the apparitions in the
heavens, took counsel of Nezahualpilli, who was a great
proficient in the subtle science of astrology. But the
royal sage cast a deeper cloud over his spirit by reading
in these prodigies the speedy downfall of the empire. 10
8 " Tenia por cierto," says Las Casas of Montezuma, " segun sus
prophetas 6 agoreros le avian certificado, que su estado e rriquezas y
prosperidad avia de perezer dentro de pocos anos por ciertas gentes
que avian de venir en sus dias, que de su felicidad lo derrocase, y por
esto vivia siempre con temor y en tristeca y sobresaltado." Hist, de
las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120.
9 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — The Interpreter of the Codex
Tel.-Rem. intimates that this scintillating phenomenon was probably
nothing more than an eruption of one of the great volcanoes of Mex-
ico. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 144.
10 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, MS., lib. 12, cap. 1. — Ca-
3io
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
Such are the strange stories reported by the chron-
iclers, in which it is not impossible to detect the glim-
merings of truth." Nearly thirty years had elapsed
since the discovery of the Islands by Columbus, and
more than twenty since his visit to the American
continent. Rumors, more or less distinct, of this
wonderful appearance of the white men, bearing in
their hands the thunder and the lightning, so like in
many respects to the traditions of Quetzalcoatl, would
naturally spread far and wide among the Indian nations.
Such rumors, doubtless, long before the landing of the
Spaniards in Mexico, found their way up the grand
plateau, filling the minds of men with anticipations
of the near coming of the period when the great deity
was to return and receive his own again.
In the excited state of their imaginations, prodigies
became a familiar occurrence. Or rather, events not
very uncommon in themselves, seen through the dis-
colored medium of fear, were easily magnified into
prodigies ; and the accidental swell of the lake, the
appearance of a comet, and the conflagration of a
building were all interpreted as the special annuncia-
tions of Heaven." Thus it happens in those great
margo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Acosta, lib. 7, cap. 23. — Herrera,
Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 5. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 74.
11 I omit the most extraordinary miracle of all, — though legal attes-
tations of its truth were furnished the court of Rome (see Clavigero,
Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p. 289), — namely, the resurrection of Monte-
zuma's sister, Papantzin, four days after her burial, to warn the mon-
arch of the approaching rain of his empire. It finds credit with one
writer, at least, in the nineteenth century! See the note of Sahagun's
Mexican editor, Bustamante, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, torn. ii. p. 270.
12 Lucan gives a fine enumeration of such prodigies witnessed in
APPREHENSIONS OF MONTEZUMA.
3 11
political convulsions which shake the foundations of
society, — the mighty events that cast their shadows
before them in their coming. Then it is that the
atmosphere is agitated with the low, prophetic mur-
murs with which Nature, in the moral as in the physi-
cal world, announces the march of the hurricane :
" When from the shores
And forest-rustling mountains comes a voice,
That, solemn sounding, bids the world prepare!"
When tidings were brought to the capital of the land-
ing of Grijalva on the coast, in the preceding year, the
heart of Montezuma was filled with dismay. He felt
as if the destinies which had so long brooded over the
royal line of Mexico were to be accomplished, and the
sceptre was to pass away from his house forever.
Though somewhat relieved by the departure of the
Spaniards, he caused sentinels to be stationed on the
heights ; and, when the Europeans returned under
Cortes, he doubtless received the earliest notice of the
unwelcome event. It was by his orders, however, that
the provincial governor had prepared so hospitable a
reception for them. The hieroglyphical report of these
strange visitors, now forwarded to the capital, revived
all his apprehensions. He called, without delay, a
meeting of his principal counsellors, including the
the Roman capital in a similar excitement. (Pharsalia, lib. i, v. 523,
et seq.) Poor human nature is much the same everywhere. Machia-
velli has thought the subject worthy of a separate chapter in his Dis-
courses. The philosopher even intimates a belief in the existence of
beneficent intelligences who send these portents as a sort of premoni-
tories, to warn mankind of the coming tempest. Discorsi sopra Tito
Livio, lib. 1, cap. 56.
312
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and laid the matter
before them. 13
There seems to have been much division of opinion
in that body. Some were for resisting the strangers
at once, whether by fraud or by open force. Others
contended that, if they were supernatural beings, fraud
and force would be alike useless. If they were, as they
pretended, ambassadors from a foreign prince, such a
policy would be cowardly and unjust. That they were
not of the family of Quetzalcoatl was argued from the
fact that they had shown themselves hostile to his
religion ; for tidings of the proceedings of the Span-
iards in Tabasco, it seems, had already reached the
capital. Among those in favor of giving them a
friendly and honorable reception was the Tezcucan
king, Cacama.
But Montezuma, taking counsel of his own ill-defined
apprehensions, preferred a half-way course, — as usual,
the most impolitic. He resolved to send an embassy,
with such a magnificent present to the strangers as
should impress them with high ideas of his grandeur
and resources ; while at the same time he would forbid
their approach to the capital. This was to reveal at
once both his wealth and his weakness. 14
While the Aztec court was thus agitated by the arrival
of the Spaniards, they were passing their time in the
tierra caliente, not a little annoyed by the excessive
»3 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120. — Ixtlilxo-
chitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80. — Idem, Relaciones, MS. — Sahagun,
Hist, de Nueva-Espafia, MS., lib. 12, cap. 3, 4. — Tezozomoc, Cron.
Mexicana, MS., cap. 108.
M Tezozomoc, Cron. Mexicana, MS., loc. cit. — Camargo, Hist, de
Tlascala, MS.-Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80.
EMBASSY AND PRESENTS.
3 1 3
heats and suffocating atmosphere of the sandy waste on
which they were encamped. They experienced every
alleviation that could be derived from the attentions
of the friendly natives. These, by the governor's
command, had constructed more than a thousand huts
or booths of branches and matting, which they occupied
in the neighborhood of the camp. Here they prepared
various articles of food for the tables of Cortes and his
officers, without any recompense ; while the common
soldiers easily obtained a supply for themselves, in ex-
change for such trifles as they brought with them for
barter. Thus the camp was liberally provided with
meat and fish dressed in many savory ways, with cakes
of corn, bananas, pine-apples, and divers luscious vege-
tables of the tropics, hitherto unknown to the Span-
iards. The soldiers contrived, moreover, to obtain
many little bits of gold, of no great value, indeed,
from the natives ; a traffic very displeasing to the par-
tisans of Velasquez, who considered it an invasion of
his rights. Cortes, however, did not think it pru-
dent, in this matter, to balk the inclinations of his
followers. 13
At the expiration of seven, or eight days at most, the
Mexican embassy presented itself before the camp. It
may seem an incredibly short space of time, consider-
ing the distance of the capital was near seventy leagues.
But it may be remembered that tidings were carried
there by means of posts, as already noticed, in the
brief space of four-and-twenty hours ; l6 and four or five
*5 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 39. — Gomara, Cronica,
cap. 27, ap. Barcia, torn. ii.
16 Ante, Book i, chap. 2, p. 44.
Vol. I. — o 27
3 I4 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
days would suffice for the descent of the envoys to the
coast, accustomed as the Mexicans were to long and
rapid travelling. At all events, no writer states the
period occupied by the Indian emissaries on this occa-
sion as longer than that mentioned.
The embassy, consisting of two Aztec nobles, was
accompanied by the governor, Teuhtlile, and by a
hundred slaves, bearing the princely gifts of Mon-
tezuma. One of the envoys had been selected on
account of the great resemblance which, as appeared
from the painting representing the camp, he bore to
the Spanish commander. And it is a proof of the
fidelity of the painting, that the soldiers recognized
the resemblance, and always distinguished the chief by
the name of the "Mexican Cortes."
On entering the general's pavilion, the ambassadors
saluted him and his officers with the usual signs of
reverence to persons of great consideration, touching
the ground with their hands and then carrying them
to their heads, while the air was filled with clouds of
incense, which rose up from the censers borne by their
attendants. Some delicately wrought mats of the
country {petates) were then unrolled, and on them the
slaves displayed the various articles they had brought.
They were of the most miscellaneous kind : shields,
helmets, cuirasses, embossed with plates and ornaments
of pure gold ; collars and bracelets of the same metal,
sandals, fans, panaches and crests of variegated feathers,
intermingled with gold and silver thread, and sprinkled
with pearls and precious stones ; imitations of birds
and animals in wrought and cast gold and silver, of
exquisite workmanship ; curtains, coverlets, and robes
EMBASSY AND PRESENTS.
315
of cotton, fine as silk, of rich and various dyes, in-
terwoven with feather-work that rivalled the delicacy
of painting. 17 There were more than thirty loads of
cotton cloth in addition. Among the articles was the
Spanish helmet sent to the capital, and now returned
filled to the brim with grains of gold. But the things
which excited the most admiration were two circular
plates of gold and silver, "as large as carriage-wheels."
One, representing the sun, was richly carved with plants
and animals, — no doubt, denoting the Aztec century.
It was thirty palms in circumference, and was valued at
twenty thousand pesos de oro. The silver wheel, of the
same size, weighed fifty marks.* 8
J 7 From the checkered figure of some of these colored cottons,
Peter Martyr infers, the Indians were acquainted with chess 1 He
notices a curious fabric made of the hair of animals, feathers, and
cotton thread, interwoven together. " Plumas illas et concinnant inter
cuniculorum villos interque gosampij stamina ordiuntur, et intexunt
operose adeo, ut quo pacto id faciant non bene intellexerimus." De
Orbe Novo (Parisiis, 1587), dec. 5, cap. 10.
18 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 39. — Oviedo, Hist, de
las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS.,
lib. 3, cap. 120. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 27, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. — Carta
de Vera Cruz, MS. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 5. —
Robertson cites Bernal Diaz as reckoning the value of the silver plate
at 20,000 pesos, or about ^5000. (History of America, vol. ii. note
75.) But Bernal Diaz speaks only of the value of the gold plate,
which he estimates at 20,000 pesos de oro, different from the pesos,
dollars, or ounces of silver, \\ ith which the historian confounds them.
As the mention of the peso de oro will often recur in these pages,
it will be well to make the reader acquainted with its probable value.
Nothing is more difficult than to ascertain the actual value of the
currency of a distant age; so many circumstances occur to embar-
rass the calculation, besides the general depreciation of the precious
metals, such as the adulteration of specific coins, and the like.
Sefior Clemencin, the Secretary of the Royal Academy of History, in
316
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
The Spaniards could not conceal their rapture at the
exhibition of treasures which so far surpassed all the
dreams in which they had indulged. For, rich as were
the materials, they were exceeded — according to the
testimony of those who saw these articles afterwards in
Seville, where they could coolly examine them — by the
beauty and richness of the workmanship. 19
the sixth volume of its Memorias, has computed with great accuracy
the value of the different denominations of the Spanish currency at
the close of the fifteenth century, the period just preceding that of the
conquest of Mexico. He makes no mention of the peso de oro in his
tables. But he ascertains the precise value of the gold ducat, which
will answer our purpose as well. (Memorias de la Real Academia de
Historia (Madrid, 1821), torn. vi. Ilust. 20.) Oviedo, a contemporary
of the Conquerors, informs us that the peso de oro and the castellano
were of the same value, and that was precisely one-third greater than
the value of the ducat. (Hist, del Ind., lib. 6, cap. 8, ap. Ramusio,
Navigationi et Viaggi (Venetia, 1565), torn, iii.) Now, the ducat, as
appears from Clemencin, reduced to our own currency, would be equal
to eight dollars and seventy-five cents. The peso de oro, therefore,
was equal to eleven dollars and sixty-seven cents, or two pounds, twelve
shillings, and sixpence sterling. Keeping this in mind, it will be easy
for the reader to determine the actual value, in pesos de oro, of any
sum that may be hereafter mentioned.
J 9 "1 Cierto cosas de ver !" exclaims Las Casas, who saw them with
the Emperor Charles V. in Seville, in 1520. " Quedaron todos los que
vieron aquestas cosas tan ricas y tan bien artificiadas y ermosisimas
como de cosas nunca vistas," etc. (Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3,
cap. 120.) " Muy hermosas," says Oviedo, who saw them in Valla-
dolid, and describes the great wheels more minutely; " todo era
muchodever!" (Hist, de las Indias, MS., loc. cit.) The inquisitive
Martyr, who examined them carefully, remarks, yet more emphat-
ically, " Si quid unquam honoris humana ingenia in huiuscemodi arti-
bus sunt adepta, principatum iure merito ista consequentur. Aurum,
gemmasque non admiror quidem, qua. industria, quove studio superet
opus materiam, stupeo. Mille figuras et facies mille prospexi quae
scribere nequeo. Quid oculos hominum sua. pulchritudine aeque possit
allicere meo iudicio vidi nunquam." De Orbe Novo, dec. 4, cap. 9.
EMBASSY AND PRESENTS.
3 X 7
When Cortes and his officers had completed their
survey, the ambassadors courteously delivered the mes-
sage of Montezuma. "It gave their master great pleas-
ure," they said, " to hold this communication with so
powerful a monarch as the King of Spain, for whom
he felt the most profound respect. He regretted much
that he could not enjoy a personal interview with the
Spaniards, but the distance of his capital was too great;
since the journey was beset with difficulties, and with
too many dangers from formidable enemies, to make it
possible. All that could be done, therefore, was for
the strangers to return to their own land, with the
proofs thus afforded them of his friendly disposition."
Cortes, though much chagrined at this decided re-
fusal of Montezuma to admit his visit, concealed his
mortification as he best might, and politely expressed
his sense of the emperor's munificence. "It made
him only the more desirous," he said, " to have a per-
sonal interview with him. He should feel it, indeed,
impossible to present himself again before his own
sovereign, without having accomplished this great ob-
ject of his voyage ; and one who had sailed over two
thousand leagues of ocean held lightly the perils and
fatigues of so short a journey by land." He once
more requested them to become the bearers of his mes-
sage to their master, together with a slight additional
token of his respect.
This consisted of a few fine Holland shirts, a Flor-
entine goblet, gilt and somewhat curiously enamelled,
with some toys of little value, — a sorry return for the
solid magnificence of the royal present. The ambas-
sadors may have thought as much. At least, they
27*
3i8
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
showed no alacrity in charging themselves either with
the present or the message, and, on quitting the Castil-
ian quarters, repeated their assurance that the general's
application would be unavailing. 20
The splendid treasure, which now lay dazzling the
eyes of the Spaniards, raised in their bosoms very dif-
ferent emotions, according to the difference of their
characters. Some it stimulated with the ardent desire to
strike at once into the interior and possess themselves
of a country which teemed with such boundless stores
of wealth. Others looked on it as the evidence of a
power altogether too formidable to be encountered
with their present insignificant force. They thought,
therefore, it would be most prudent to return and re-
port their proceedings to the governor of Cuba, where
preparations could be made commensurate with so vast
an undertaking. There can be little doubt as to the
impression made on the bold spirit of Cortes, on which
difficulties ever operated as incentives, rather than
discouragements, to enterprise. But he prudently said
nothing, — at least in public, — preferring that so impor-
tant a movement should flow from the determination
of his whole army, rather than from his own individual
impulse.
Meanwhile the soldiers suffered greatly from the
inconveniences of their position amidst burning sands
and the pestilent effluvia of the neighboring marshes,
while the venomous insects of these hot regions left
them no repose, day or night. Thirty of their number
20 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121. — Bernal
Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 39. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 80. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 27, ap. Barcia, torn. ii.
EMBASSY AND PRESENTS.
3*9
had already sickened and died ; a loss that could ill be
afforded by the little band. To add to their troubles,
the coldness of the Mexican chiefs had extended to
their followers; and the supplies for the camp were
not only much diminished, but the prices set on them
were exorbitant. The position was equally unfavorable
for the shipping, which lay in an open roadstead,
exposed to the fury of the first norte which should
sweep the Mexican Gulf.
The general was induced by these circumstances to
despatch two vessels, under Francisco de Montejo, with
the experienced Alaminos for his pilot, to explore the
coast in a northerly direction, and see if a safer port
and more commodious quarters for the army could not
be found there.
After the lapse of ten days the Mexican envoys re-
turned. They entered the Spanish quarters with the
same formality as on the former visit, bearing with
them an additional present of rich stuffs and metallic
ornaments, which, though inferior in value to those
before brought, were estimated at three thousand ounces
of gold. Besides these, there were four precious stones,
of a considerable size, resembling emeralds, called by
the natives chalc Indies, each of which, as they assured
the Spaniards, was worth more than a load of gold,
and was designed as a mark of particular respect for
the Spanish monarch. 21 Unfortunately, they were not
worth as many loads of earth in Europe.
21 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 40. — Father Sahagun
thus describes these stones, so precious in Mexico that the use of
them was interdicted to any but the nobles : " The chalchuites are of
a green color mixed with white, and are not transparent. They are
320
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
Montezuma's answer was in substance the same as
before. It contained a positive prohibition for the
strangers to advance nearer to the capital, and ex-
pressed his confidence that, now they had obtained
what they had most desired, they would return to their
own country without unnecessary delay. Cortes re-
ceived this unpalatable response courteously, though
somewhat coldly, and, turning to his officers, exclaimed,
"This is a rich and powerful prince indeed; yet it
shall go hard but we will one day pay him a visit in
his capital !"
While they were conversing, the bell struck for ves-
pers. At the sound, the soldiers, throwing themselves
on their knees, offered up their orisons before the large
wooden cross planted in the sands. As the Aztec chiefs
gazed with curious surprise, Cortes thought it a favor-
able occasion to impress them with what he conceived
to be a principal object of his visit to the country.
Father Olmedo accordingly expounded, as briefly and
clearly as he could, the great doctrines of Christianity,
touching on the atonement, the passion, and the resur-
rection, and concluding with assuring his astonished
audience that it was their intention to extirpate the
idolatrous practices of the nation and to substitute the
pure worship of the true God. He then put into their
hands a little image of the Virgin with the infant Re-
deemer, requesting them to place it in their temples
instead of their sanguinary deities. How far the Aztec
lords comprehended the mysteries of the faith, as con-
much worn by persons of rank, and, attached to the wrist by a thread,
are a token of the nobility of the wearer.' Hist, de Nueva-Espana,
lib. ii, cap. 8.
SPANISH ENCAMPMENT.
321
veyed through the double version of Aguilar and Ma-
rina, or how well they perceived the subtle distinctions
between their own images and those of the Roman
Church, we are not informed. There is reason to fear,
however, that the seed fell on barren ground ; for, when
the homily of the good father ended, they withdrew
with an air of dubious reserve very different from
their friendly manners at the first interview. The same
night every hut was deserted by the natives, and
the Spaniards saw themselves suddenly cut off from
supplies in the midst of a desolate wilderness. The
movement had so suspicious an appearance that Cortes
apprehended an attack would be made on his quarters,
and took precautions accordingly. But none was
meditated.
The army was at length cheered by the return of
Montejo from his exploring expedition, after an ab-
sence of twelve days. He had run down the Gulf as
far as Panuco, where he experienced such heavy gales,
in attempting to double that headland, that he was
driven back, and had nearly foundered. In the whole
course of the voyage he had found only one place tol-
erably sheltered from the north winds. Fortunately,
the adjacent country, well watered by fresh, running
streams, afforded a favorable position for the camp ;
and thither, after some deliberation, it was determined
to repair."
22 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. 3, cap. 121. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 40, 41.
— Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 6. — Gomara, Cronica,
cap. 29, ap. Barcia, torn. ii.
O
CHAPTER VII.
TROUBLES IN THE CAMP. — PLAN OF A COLONY. — MAN-
AGEMENT OF CORTES. MARCH TO CEMPOALLA. —
PROCEEDINGS WITH THE NATIVES. FOUNDATION OF
VERA CRUZ.
I5I9-
There is no situation which tries so severely the
patience and discipline of the soldier as a life of idle-
ness in camp, where his thoughts, instead of being bent
on enterprise and action, are fastened on himself and
the inevitable privations and dangers of his condition.
This was particularly the case in the present instance,
where, in addition to the evils of a scanty subsistence,
the troops suffered from excessive heat, swarms of
venomous insects, and the other annoyances of a sultry
climate. They were, moreover, far from possessing
the character of regular forces, trained to subordination
under a commander whom they had long been taught
to reverence and obey. They were soldiers of fortune,
embarked with him in an adventure in which all
seemed to have an equal stake, and they regarded their
captain — the captain of a day — as little more than an
equal.
There was a growing discontent among the men at
their longer residence in this strange land. They were
still more dissatisfied on learning the general's inten-
tion to remove to the neighborhood of the port dis-
(32O
TROUBLES IN THE CAMP.
3 2 3
covered by Montejo. "It was time to return," they
said, "and report what had been done to the governor
of Cuba, and not linger on these barren shores until
they had brought the whole Mexican empire on their
heads !" Cortes evaded their importunities as well as
he could, assuring them there was no cause for despond-
ency. "Everything so far had gone on prosperously,
and, when they had taken up a more favorable position,
there was no reason to doubt they might still continue
the same profitable intercourse with the natives."
While this was passing, five Indians made their ap-
pearance in the camp one morning, and were brought
to the general's tent. Their dress and whole appear-
ance were different from those of the Mexicans. They
wore rings of gold, and gems of bright blue stone in
their ears and nostrils, while a gold leaf delicately
wrought was attached to the under lip. Marina was
unable to comprehend their language, but, on her
addressing them in Aztec, two of them, it was found,
could converse in that tongue. They said they were
natives of Cempoalla, the chief town of the Totonacs,
a powerful nation who had come upon the great plateau
many centuries back, and, descending its eastern slope,
settled along the sierras and broad plains which skirt
the Mexican Gulf towards the north. Their country
was one of the recent conquests of the Aztecs, and
they experienced such vexatious oppressions from their
conquerors as made them very impatient of the yoke.
They informed Cortes of these and other particulars.
The fame of the Spaniards had reached their master,
who sent these messengers to request the presence of
the wonderful strangers in his capital.
3 2 4
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
This communication was eagerly listened to by the
general, who, it will be remembered, was possessed of
none of those facts, laid before the reader, respecting
the internal condition of the kingdom, which he had
no reason to suppose other than strong and united.
An important truth now flashed on his mind, as his
quick eye descried in this spirit of discontent a potent
lever, by the aid of which he might hope to oveiturn
this barbaric empire. He received the mission of the
Totonacs most graciously, and, after informing him-
self, as far as possible, of their dispositions and re-
sources, dismissed them with presents, promising soon
to pay a visit to their lord. 1
Meanwhile, his personal friends, among whom may
be particularly mentioned Alonso Hernandez Puerto-
carrero, Cristobal de Olid, Alonso de Avila, Pedro de
Alvarado and his brothers, were very busy in persuad-
ing the troops to take such measures as should enable
Cortes to go forward in those ambitious plans for which
he had no warrant from the powers of Velasquez. "To
return now," they said, "was to abandon the enter-
prise on the threshold, which, under such a leader, must
conduct to glory and incalculable riches. To return to
Cuba would be to surrender to the greedy governor the
little gains they had already got. The only way was
to persuade the general to establish a permanent colony
in the country, the government of which would take
the conduct of matters into its own hands and provide
for the interests of its members. It was true, Cortes
had no such authority from Velasquez. But the in-
1 Bemal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 41. — Las Casas, Hist, de
las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 28.
PLAN OF A COLONY.
3 2 5
terests of the sovereigns, which were paramount to
every other, imperatively demanded it."
These conferences could not be conducted so secretly,
though held by night, as not to reach the ears of the
friends of Velasquez. 2 They remonstrated against the
proceedings, as insidious and disloyal. They accused
the general of instigating them, and, calling on him to
take measures without delay for the return of the troops
to Cuba, announced their own intention to depart, with
such followers as still remained true to the governor.
Cortes, instead of taking umbrage at this high-handed
proceeding, or even answering in the same haughty tone,
mildly replied "that nothing was further from his desire
than to exceed his instructions. He, indeed, preferred
to remain in the country, and continue his profitable
intercourse with the natives. But, since the army
thought otherwise, he should defer to their opinion,
and give orders to return, as they desired." On the
following morning, proclamation was made for the
troops to hold themselves in readiness to embark at
once on board the fleet, which was to sail for Cuba. 3
Great was the sensation caused by their general's
order. Even many of those before clamorous for it,
2 The letter from the cabildo of Vera Cruz says nothing of these
midnight conferences. Bernal Diaz, who was privy to them, is a
sufficient authority. See Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 42.
3 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 30. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS.,
lib. 3, cap. 121. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80. — Bernal
Diaz, Ibid.,loc. cit. — Declaracion de Puertocarrero, MS. — The deposi-
tion of a respectable person like Puertocarrero, taken in the spring
of the following year, after his return to Spain, is a document of such
authority that I have transferred it entire, in the original, to the
Appendix, Part 2, No. 7.
Vol. I.— 28
326 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
with the usual caprice of men whose wishes are too
easily gratified, .now regretted it. The partisans of
Cortes were loud in their remonstrances. "They were
betrayed by the general," they cried, and, thronging
round his tent, called on him to countermand his
orders. "We came here," said they, "expecting to
form a settlement, if the state of the country authorized
it. Now it seems you have no warrant from the gov-
ernor to make one. But there are interests, higher
than those of Velasquez, which demand it. These
territories are not his property, but were discovered for
the sovereigns;' 4 and it is necessary to plant a colony
to watch over their interests, instead of wasting time
in idle barter, or, still worse, of returning, in the pres-
ent state of affairs, to Cuba. If you refuse, ' ' they con-
cluded, "we shall protest against your conduct as dis-
loyal to their Highnesses."
Cortes received this remonstrance with the embar-
rassed air of one by whom it was altogether unexpected.
He modestly requested time for deliberation, and
promised to give his answer on the following day. At
the time appointed, he called the troops together, and
made them a brief address. " There was no one," he
4 Sometimes we find the Spanish writers referring to " the sover-
eigns," sometimes to "the emperor;" in the former case intending
Queen Joanna, the crazy mother of Charles V., as well as himself.
Indeed, all public acts and ordinances ran in the name of both. The
title of " Highness," which until the reign of Charles V. had usually
— not uniformly, as Robertson imagines (History of Charles V., vol.
ii. p. 59) — been applied to the sovereign, now gradually gave way to
that of " Majesty," which Charles affected after his election to the
imperial throne. The same title is occasionally found in the corre-
spondence of the Great Captain, and other courtiers of the reign of
Ferdinand and Isabella.
PLAN OF A COLONY. 327
said, " if he knew his own heart, more deeply devoted
than himself to the welfare of his sovereigns and the
glory of the Spanish name. He had not only ex-
pended his all, but incurred heavy debts, to meet the
charges of this expedition, and had hoped to reimburse
himself by continuing his traffic with the Mexicans.
But, if the soldiers thought a different course advisable,
he was ready to postpone his own advantage to the
good of the state. "~ 5 He concluded by declaring his
willingness to take measures for settling a colony in
the name of the Spanish sovereigns, and to nominate
a magistracy to preside over it. 6
For the alcaldes he selected Puertocarrero and Mon-
tejo, the former cavalier his fast friend, and the latter
the friend of Velasquez, and chosen for that very
reason ; a stroke of policy which perfectly succeeded.
The regidores, alguacil, treasurer, and other function-
aries were then appointed, all of them his personal
friends and adherents. They were regularly sworn into
5 According to Robertson, Cortes told his men that he had proposed
to establish a colony on the coast, before marching into the country ;
but he abandoned his design, at their entreaties to set out at once on
the expedition. In the very next page we find him organizing this
same colony. (History of America, vol. ii. pp. 241, 242.) The his-
torian would have been saved this inconsistency, if he had followed
either of the authorities whom he cites, Bernal Diaz and Herrera, or
the letter from Vera Cruz, of which he had a copy. They all concur
in the statement in the text.
6 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122. — Carta de
Vera Cruz, MS. — Declaracion de Montejo, MS. — Declaracion de Puer-
tocarrero, MS. — " Our general, after some urging, acquiesced," says
the blunt old soldier Bernal Diaz ; " for, as the proverb says, ' You ask
me to do what I have already made up my mind to.' " Tu me to
rucgas, e yo me to quiero. Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 42.
328 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
office, and the new city received the title of Villa Rica
de Vera Cruz, "The Rich Town of the True Cross;"
a name which was considered as happily intimating
that union of spiritual and temporal interests to which
the arms of the Spanish adventurers in the New World
were to be devoted. 7 Thus, by a single stroke of the
pen, as it were, the camp was transformed into a civil
community, and the whole frame-work and even title
of the city were arranged, before ' the site of it had
been settled.
The new municipality were not slow in coming
together ; when Cortes presented himself, cap in hand,
before that august body, and, laying the powers of
Velasquez on the table, respectfully tendered the resig-
nation of his office of Captain-General, "which,
indeed," he said, "had necessarily expired, since the
authority of the governor was now superseded by that
of the magistracy of Villa Rica de Vera Cruz." He
then, with a profound obeisance, left the apartment. 8
The council, after a decent time spent in delibera-
tion, again requested his presence. "There was no
one," they said, "who, on mature reflection, appeared
7 According to Bernal Diaz, the title of " Vera Cruz" was intended
to commemorate their landing on Good Friday. Hist, de la Con-
quista, cap. 42.
8 Soli's, whose taste for speech-making might have satisfied even the
Abbe Mably (see his Treatise, " De la Maniere d'ecrire l'Histoire"),
has put a very flourishing harangue on this occasion into the mouth
of his hero, of which there is not a vestige in any contemporary
account. (Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 7.) Dr. Robertson has transferred
it to his own eloquent pages, without citing his author, indeed, who,
considering he came a century and a half after the Conquest, must
be allowed to be not the best, especially when the only, voucher for
a fact.
MANAGEMENT OF CORTES.
329
to them so well qualified to take charge of the interests
of the community, both in peace and in war, as him-
self; and they unanimously named him, in behalf of
their Catholic Highnesses, Captain-General and Chief
Justice of the colony." He was further empowered
to draw, on his own account, one-fifth of the gold and
silver which might hereafter be obtained by commerce
or conquest from the natives. 9 Thus clothed with
supreme civil and military jurisdiction, Cortes was not
backward in asserting his authority. He found speedy
occasion for it.
The transactions above described had succeeded each
other so rapidly that the governor's party seemed to be
taken by surprise, and had formed no plan of opposi-
tion. When the last measure was carried, however,
they broke forth into the most indignant and oppro-
brious invectives, denouncing the whole as a systematic
conspiracy against Velasquez. These accusations led
to recrimination from the soldiers of the other side,
until from words they nearly proceeded to blows.
Some of the principal cavaliers, among them Velas-
quez de Leon, a kinsman of the governor, Escobar,
his page, and Diego de Ordaz, were so active in in-
stigating these turbulent movements that Cortes took
the bold measure of putting them all in irons and
sending them on board the vessels. He then dispersed
the common file by detaching many of them with a
9 " Lo peor de todo que le otorgdmos," says Bernal Diaz, somewhat
peevishly, was, " que le dariamos el quinto del oro de lo que se huui-
esse, despues de sacado el Real quinto." (Hist, de la Conquista, cap.
42.) The letter from Vera Cruz says nothing of this fifth. The
reader who would see the whole account of this remarkable transac-
tion in the original may find it in the Appendix, Part 2, No. 8.
28*
33°
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
strong party under Alvarado to forage the neighboring
country and bring home provisions for the destitute
camp.
During their absence, every argument that cupidity
or ambition could suggest was used to win the refrac-
tory to his views. Promises, and even gold, it is said,
were liberally lavished ; till, by degrees, their under-
standings were opened to a clearer view of the merits
of the case. And when the foraging party reappeared
with abundance of poultry and vegetables, and the
cravings of the stomach — that great laboratory of dis-
affection, whether in camp or capital — were appeased,
good humor returned with good cheer, and the rival
factions embraced one another as companions in arms,
pledged to a common cause. Even the high-mettled
hidalgos on board the vessels did not long withstand
the general tide of reconciliation, but one by one gave
in their adhesion to the new government. What is
more remarkable is that this forced conversion was
not a hollow one, but from this time forward several
of these very cavaliers became the most steady and
devoted partisans of Cortes. 10
10 Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 30, 31. — Las
Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist.
Chich., MS., cap. 80. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 42. —
Declaraciones de Montejo y Puertocarrero, MSS. — In the process of
Narvaez against Cortes, the latter is accused of being possessed with
the Devil, as only Lucifer could have thus gained him the affections
of the soldiery. (Demanda de Narvaez, MS.) Solis, on the othei
hand, sees nothing but good faith and loyalty in the conduct of the
general, who acted from a sense of duty ! (Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 6,
7.) Solis is even a more steady apologist for his hero than his own
chaplain, Gomara, or the worthy magistrates of Vera Cruz. A more
impartial testimony than either, probably, may be gathered from
MANAGEMENT OF CORTES.
33*
Such was the address of this extraordinary man, and
such the ascendency which in a few months he had
acquired over these wild and turbulent spirits ! By
this ingenious transformation of a military into a civil
community, he had secured a new and effectual basis
for future operations. He might now go forward with-
out fear of check or control from a superior, — at least
from any other superior than the crown, under which
alone he held his commission. In accomplishing this,
instead of incurring the charge of usurpation or of
transcending his legitimate powers, he had transferred
the responsibility, in a great measure, to those who had
imposed on him the necessity of action. By this step,
moreover, he had linked the fortunes of his followers
indissolubly with his own. They had taken their
chance with him, and, whether for weal or for woe,
must abide the consequences. He was no longer lim-
ited to the narrow concerns of a sordid traffic, but,
sure of their co-operation, might now boldly meditate,
and gradually disclose, those lofty schemes which he
had formed in his own bosom for the conquest of an
empire."
Harmony being thus restored, Cortes sent his heavy
guns on board the fleet, and ordered it to coast along
honest Bernal Diaz, so often quoted. A hearty champion of the
cause, he was by no means blind to the defects or the merits of his
leader.
" This may appear rather indifferent logic to those who consider
that Cortes appointed the very body who, in turn, appointed him to
the command. But the affectation of legal forms afforded him a thin
varnish for his proceedings, which served his purpose, for the present
at least, with the troops. For the future, he trusted to his good star —
in other words, to the success of his enterprise — to vindicate his con-
duct to the Emperor. He did not miscalculate.
332
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
the shore to the north as far as Chiahuitztla, the town
near which the destined port of the new city was sit-
uated ; proposing, himself, at the head of his troops,
to visit Cempoalla, on the march. The road lay for
some miles across the dreary plains in the neighbor-
hood of the modern Vera Cruz. In this sandy waste
no signs of vegetation met their eyes, which, however,
were occasionally refreshed by glimpses of the blue
Atlantic, and by the distant view of the magnificent
Orizaba, towering, with his spotless diadem of snow,
far above his colossal brethren of the Andes." As
they advanced, the country gradually assumed a greener
and richer aspect. They crossed a river, probably a
tributary of the Rio de la Antigua, with difficulty, on
rafts, and on some broken canoes that were lying on
the banks. They now came in view of very different
scenery, — wide-rolling plains covered with a rich car-
pet of verdure and overshadowed by groves of cocoas
and feathery palms, among whose tall, slender stems
12 The name of the mountain is not given, and probably was not
known, but the minute description in the MS. of Vera Cruz leaves no
doubt that it was the one mentioned in the text. " Entre las quales
asi una que excede en mucha altura &. todas las otras y de ella se vee
y descubre gran parte de la mar y de la tierra, y es tan alta, que si el
dia no es bien claro, no se puede divisar ni ver lo alto de ella, porque
de la mitad arriba estd toda cubierta de nubes : y algunos veces,
cuando hace muy claro dia, se vee por cima de las dichas nubes lo alto
de ella, y estd tan bianco, que lo jusgamos por nieve." (Carta de
Vera Cruz, MS.) This huge volcano was called Citlaltepetl, or " Star
Mountain," by the Mexicans, — perhaps from the fire which once
issued from its conical summit, far above the clouds. It stands in the
intendancy of Vera Cruz, and rises, according to Humboldt's measure-
ment, to the enormous height of 17,368 feet above the ocean. (Essai
politique, torn. i. p. 265.) It is the highest peak but one in the whole
range of the Mexican Cordilleras.
MARCH TO CEMPOALLA.
333
were seen deer, and various wild animals with which
the Spaniards were unacquainted. Some of the horse-
men gave chase to the deer, and wounded, but did not
succeed in killing them. They saw, also, pheasants
and other birds ; among them the wild turkey, the
pride of the American forest, which the Spaniards
described as a species of peacock. 13
On their route they passed through some deserted
villages, in which were Indian temples, where they
found censers, and other sacred utensils, and manu-
scripts of the agave fibre, containing the picture-
writing, in which, probably, their religious ceremonies
were recorded. They now beheld, also, the hideous
spectacle, with which they became afterwards familiar,
of the mutilated corpses of victims who had been
sacrificed to the accursed deities of the land. The
Spaniards turned with loathing and indignation from
a display of butchery which formed so dismal a con-
trast to the fair scenes of nature by which they were
surrounded.
They held their course along the banks of the river,
towards its source, when they were met by twelve
Indians, sent by the cacique of Cempoalla to show them
the way to his residence. At night they bivouacked
in an open meadow, where they were well supplied
with provisions by their new friends. They left the
stream on the following morning, and, striking north-
erly across the country, came upon a wide expanse of
luxuriant plains and woodland, glowing in all the
splendor of tropical vegetation. The branches of the
J 3 Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 44.
334 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
stately trees were gayly festooned with clustering vines
of the dark-purple grape, variegated convolvuli, and
other flowering parasites of the most brilliant dyes.
The undergrowth of prickly aloe, matted with wild
rose and honeysuckle, made in many places an almost
impervious thicket. Amid this wilderness of sweet-
smelling buds and blossoms fluttered numerous birds
of the parrot tribe, and clouds of butterflies, whose
gaudy colors, nowhere so gorgeous as in the tierra
caliente, rivalled those of the vegetable creation ; while
birds of exquisite song, the scarlet cardinal, and the
marvellous mocking-bird, that comprehends in his own
notes the whole music of a forest, filled the air with
delicious melody. The hearts of the stern Conquerors
were not very sensible to the beauties of nature. But
the magical charms of the scenery drew forth unbounded
expressions of delight, and as they wandered through
this "terrestrial paradise," as they called it, they
fondly compared it to the fairest regions of their own
sunny land. 14
*4 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 32, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. — Herrera, Hist,
general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 1. — Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33,
cap. 1. — " Mui hermosas vegas y riberas tales y tan hermosas que en
toda Espafia no pueden ser mejores ansi de apacibles i. la vista como
de fructiferas." (Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.) The following poetical
apostrophe, by Lord Morpeth, to the scenery of Cuba, equally appli-
cable to that of the tierra caliente, will give the reader a more ani-
mated picture of the glories of these sunny climes than my own prose
can. The verses, which have never been published, breathe the
generous sentiment characteristic of their noble author:
" Ye tropic forests of unfading green,
Where the palm tapers and the orange glows,
Where the light bamboo waves her feathery screen,
And her far shade the matchless ceil/a throws 1
MARCH TO CEMPOALLA.
335
As they approached the Indian city, they saw abun-
dant signs of cultivation, in the trim gardens and
orchards that lined both sides of the road. They were
now met by parties of the natives, of either sex, who in-
creased in numbers with every step of their progress.
The women, as well as men, mingled fearlessly among
the soldiers, bearing bunches and wreaths of flowers,
with which they decorated the neck of the general's
charger, and hung a chaplet of roses about his helmet
Flowers were the delight of this people. They be-
stowed much care in their cultivation, in which they
were well seconded by a climate of alternate heat and
moisture, stimulating the soil to the spontaneous pro-
duction of every form of vegetable life. The same re-
fined taste, as we shall see, prevailed among the warlike
Aztecs, and has survived the degradation of the nation
in their descendants of the present day. IS
Many of the women appeared, from their richer dress
and numerous attendants, to be persons of rank. They
were clad in robes of fine cotton, curiously colored,
" Ye cloudless ethers of unchanging blue,
Save where the rosy streaks of eve give way
To the clear sapphire of your midnight hue,
The burnished azure of your perfect day !
" Yet tell me not my native skies are bleak,
That flushed with liquid wealth no cane-fields wave ;
For Virtue pines, and Manhood dares not speak,
And Nature's glories brighten round the Slave."
j s " The same love of flowers," observes one of the most delightful
of modern travellers, " distinguishes the natives now, as in the times
of Cortes. And it presents a strange anomaly," she adds, with her
usual acuteness ; " this love of flowers having existed along with their
sanguinary worship and barbarous sacrifices." Madame Calderon de
la Barca, Life in Mexico, vol. i. let. 12.
\3t
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
which reached from the neck — in the inferior orders,
from the waist — to the ankles. The men wore a sort
of mantle of the same material, a la Morisca, in the
Moorish fashion, over their shoulders, and belts or
sashes about the loins. Both sexes had jewels and
ornaments of gold round their necks, while their ears
and nostrils were perforated with rings of the same metal.
Just before reaching the town, some horsemen who
had ridden in advance returned with the amazing intel-
ligence "that they had been near enough to look within
the gates, and found the houses all plated with bur-
nished silver !" On entering the place, the silver was
found to be nothing more than a brilliant coating of
stucco, with which the principal buildings were cov-
ered ; a circumstance which produced much merriment
among the soldiers at the expense of their credulous
comrades. Such ready credulity is a proof of the ex-
alted state of their imaginations, which were prepared
to see gold and silver in every object around them. 16
The edifices of the better kind were of stone and lime,
or bricks dried in the sun ; the poorer were of clay
and earth. All were thatched with palm-leaves, which,
though a flimsy roof, apparently, for such structures,
were so nicely interwoven as to form a very effectual
protection against the weather.
The city was said to contain from twenty to thirty
thousand inhabitants. This is the most moderate com-
putation, and not improbable. 17 Slowly and silently
16 " Con la imagination que llevaban, i tmenos deseos, todo se les
antojaba plata i oro lo que relucia." Gomara, Cronica, cap. 32, ap.
Barcia, torn. ii.
*7 This is Las Casas' estimate (Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 3, cap.
RECEPTION AT CEMPOALLA.
337
the little army paced the narrow and now crowded
streets of Cempoalla, inspiring the natives with no
greater wonder than they themselves experienced at
the display of a policy and refinement so far superior
to anything they had witnessed in the New World. 18
The cacique came out in front of his residence to re-
ceive them. He was a tall and very corpulent man,
and advanced leaning on two of his attendants. He
received Cortes and his followers with great courtesy,
and, after a brief interchange of civilities, assigned the
army its quarters in a neighboring temple, into the
spacious court-yard of which a number of apartments
opened, affording excellent accommodations for the
soldiery.
Here the Spaniards were well supplied with pro-
visions, meat cooked after the fashion of the country,
and maize made into bread-cakes. The general re-
ceived, also, a present of considerable value from the
cacique, consisting of ornaments of gold and fine cot-
tons. Notwithstanding these friendly demonstrations,
Cortes did not relax his habitual vigilance, nor neglect
any of the precautions of a good soldier. On his route,
indeed, he had always marched in order of battle, well
prepared against surprise. In his present quarters, he
121.) Torquemada hesitates between twenty, fifty, and one hundred
and fifty thousand, each of which he names at different times ! (Clavi-
gero, Stor. del Messico, torn. iii. p. 26, nota.) The place was gradually
abandoned, after the Conquest, for others, in a more favorable posi-
tion, probably, for trade. Its ruins were visible at the close of the last
century. See Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, p. 39, nota.
18 " Porque viven mas politica y rasonablemente que ninguna de
las gentes que hasta oy en estas partes se ha visto." Carta de Vera
Cruz, MS.
Vol. I. — P 29
5 $8 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
stationed his sentinels with like care, posted his small
artillery so as to command the entrance, and forbade
any soldier to leave the camp without orders, under
pain of death. 19
The following morning, Cortes, accompanied by
fifty of his men, paid a visit to the lord of Cempoalla
in his own residence. It was a building of stone and
lime, standing on a steep terrace of earth, and was
reached by a flight of stone steps. It may have borne
resemblance in its structure to some of the ancient
buildings found in Central America. Cortes, leaving
his soldiers in the court-yard, entered the mansion with
one of his officers, and his fair interpreter, Dona
Marina. 20 A long conference ensued, from which the
Spanish general gathered much light respecting the
state of the country. He first announced to the chief
that he was the subject of a great monarch who dwelt
beyond the waters ; that he had come to the Aztec
shores to abolish the inhuman worship which prevailed
there, and to introduce the knowledge of the true God.
The cacique replied that their gods, who sent them
the sunshine and the rain, were good enough for them ;
that he was the tributary of a powerful monarch also,
whose capital stood on a lake far off among the moun-
tains, — a stern prince, merciless in his exactions, and,
in case of resistance, or any offence, sure to wreak his
vengeance by carrying off their young men and
maidens to be sacrificed to his deities. Cortes assured
*9 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121. — Carta de
Vera Cruz, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 33, ap. Barcia, torn. ii. —
Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.
00 The courteous title of dona is usually given by the Spanish
chroniclers to this accomplished Indian.
PROCEEDINGS WITH THE NATIVES.
339
him that he would never consent to such enor-
mities ; he had been sent by his sovereign to redress
abuses and to punish the oppressor ; 21 and, if the
Totonacs would be true to him, he would enable them
to throw off the detested yoke of the Aztecs.
The cacique added that the Totonac territory con-
tained about thirty towns and villages, which could
muster a hundred thousand warriors, — a number much
exaggerated. 22 There were other provinces of the
empire, he said, where the Aztec rule was equally
odious ; and between him and the capital lay the war-
like republic of Tlascala, which had always maintained
its independence of Mexico. The fame of the Span-
iards had gone before them, and he was well acquainted
with their terrible victory at Tabasco. But still he
looked with doubt and alarm to a rupture with "the
great Montezuma," as he always styled him; whose
armies, on the least provocation, would pour down
from the mountain regions of the West, and, rushing
over the plains like a whirlwind, sweep off the wretched
people to slavery and sacrifice !
Cortes endeavored to reassure him, by declaring that
a single Spaniard was stronger than a host of Aztecs.
At the same time, it was desirable to know what nations
would co-operate with him, not so much on his account
as theirs, that he might distinguish friend from foe and
21 " He had come only to redress injuries, to protect the captive, to
succor the weak, and to overthrow tyranny." (Gomara, Cronica,
cap. 33, ap. Barcia, torn, ii.) Are we reading the adventures — it is the
language — of Don Quixote or Amadis de Gaula ?
22 Ibid., cap. 36. — Cortes, in his Second Letter to the Emperor
Charles V., estimates the number of fighting-men at 50,000. Relacion
segunda, ap. Lorenzana, p. 40.
34Q
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
know whom he was to spare in this war of extermina-
tion. Having raised the confidence of the admiring
chief by this comfortable and politic vaunt, he took an
affectionate leave, with the assurance that he would
shortly return and concert measures for their future
operations, when he had visited his ships in the
adjoining port and secured a permanent settlement
there. 23
The intelligence gained by Cortes gave great satis-
faction to his mind. It confirmed his former views,
and showed, indeed, the interior of the monarchy to
be in a state far more distracted than he had supposed.
If he had before scarcely shrunk from attacking the
Aztec empire, in the true spirit of a knight-errant, with
his single arm, as it were, what had he now to fear,
when one half of the nation could be thus marshalled
against the other ? In the excitement of the moment,
his sanguine spirit kindled with an enthusiasm which
overleaped every obstacle. He communicated his own
feelings to the officers about him, and, before a blow
was struck, they already felt as if the banners of Spain
were waving in triumph from the towers of Monte-
zuma ! But many a bloody field was to be fought,
many a peril and privation to be encountered, before
that consummation could be attained.
Taking leave of the hospitable Indian, on the follow-
ing day the Spaniards took the road to Chiahuitztla, 24
=3 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121. — Ixtlilxochitl.
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 81.— Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 33,
cap. 1.
24 The historian, with the aid of Clavigero, himself a Mexican, may-
rectify frequent blunders of former writers, in the orthography of Aztec
PROCEEDINGS WITH THE NATIVES.
341
about four leagues distant, near which was the port
discovered by Montejo, where their ships were now
riding at anchor. They were provided by the cacique
with four hundred Indian porters, tamanes, as they
were called, to transport the baggage. These men
easily carried fifty pounds' weight five or six leagues in
a day. They were in use all over the Mexican empire,
and the Spaniards found them of great service, hence-
forth, in relieving the troops from this part of their
duty. They passed through a country of the same
rich, voluptuous character as that which they had lately
traversed, and arrived early next morning at the Indian
town, perched like a fortress on a bold, rocky eminence
that commanded the Gulf. Most of the inhabitants
had fled, but fifteen of the principal men remained,
who received them in a friendly manner, offering the
usual compliments of flowers and incense. The people
of the place, losing their fears, gradually returned.
While conversing with the chiefs, the Spaniards were
joined by the worthy cacique of Cempoalla, borne by
his men on a litter. He eagerly took part in their
deliberations. The intelligence gained here by Cortes
confirmed the accounts already gathered of the feelings
and resources of the Totonac nation.
In the midst of their conference, they were inter-
rupted by a movement among the people, and soon
afterwards five men entered the great square or market-
place, where they were standing. By their lofty port,
their peculiar and much richer dress, they seemed not
names. Both Robertson and Solis spell the name of this place Quia-
bislan. Blunders in such a barbarous nomenclature must be admitted
to be very pardonable.
29*
342
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
to be of the same race as these Indians. Their dark,
glossy hair was tied in a knot on the top of the head.
They had bunches of flowers in their hands, and were
followed by several attendants, some bearing wands
with cords, others fans, with which they brushed away
the flies and insects from their lordly masters. As
these persons passed through the place, they cast a
haughty look on the Spaniards, scarcely deigning to
return their salutations. They were immediately joined,
in great confusion, by the Totonac chiefs, who seemed
anxious to conciliate them by every kind of attention.
The general, much astonished, inquired of Marina
what it meant. She informed him they were Aztec
nobles, empowered to receive the tribute for Monte-
zuma. Soon after, the chiefs returned with dismay
painted on their faces. They confirmed Marina's
statement, adding that the Aztecs greatly resented
the entertainment afforded the Spaniards without the
Emperor's permission, and demanded in expiation
twenty young men and women for sacrifice to the
gods. Cortes showed the strongest indignation at
this insolence. He required the Totonacs not only to
refuse the demand, but to arrest the persons of the
collectors and throw them into prison. The chiefs
hesitated, but he insisted on it so peremptorily that
they at length complied, and the Aztecs were seized,
bound hand and foot, and placed under a guard.
In the night, the Spanish general procured the escape
of two of them, and had them brought secretly before
him. He expressed his regret at the indignity they
had experienced from the Totonacs; told them he
would provide means for their flight, and to-morrow
PROCEEDINGS WITH THE NATIVES.
343
would endeavor to obtain the release of their compan-
ions. He desired them to report this to their master,
with assurances of the great regard the Spaniards
entertained for him, notwithstanding his ungenerous
behavior in leaving them to perish from want on his
barren shores. He then sent the Mexican nobles down
to the port, whence they were carried to another part
of the coast by water, for fear of the violence of the
Totonacs. These were greatly incensed at the escape
of the prisoners, and would have sacrificed the re-
mainder at once, but for the Spanish commander, who
evinced the utmost horror at the proposal, and ordered
them to be sent for safe custody on board the fleet.
Soon after, they were permitted to join their compan-
ions. This artful proceeding, so characteristic of the
policy of Cortes, had, as we shall see hereafter, all the
effect intended on Montezuma. It cannot be com-
mended, certainly, as in the true spirit of chivalry.
Yet it has not wanted its panegyrist among the national
historians ! 2S
By order of Cortes, messengers were despatched to
the Totonac towns to report what had been done, call-
ing on them to refuse the payment of further tribute
to Montezuma. But there was no need of messengers.
The affrighted attendants of the Aztec lords had fled
in every direction, bearing the tidings, which spread
like wildfire through the country, of the daring insult
offered to the majesty of Mexico. The astonished
Indians, cheered with the sweet hope of regaining their
a s " Grande artifice," exclaims Solfs, " de medir lo que disponia con
lo que recelaba ; y pradente capitan el que sabe caminar en alcance
de las contingencias" 1 Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 9.
344
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
ancient liberty, came in numbers to Chiahuitztla, to
see and confer with the formidable strangers. The
more timid, dismayed at the thought of encountering
the power of Montezuma, recommended an embassy
to avert his displeasure by timely concessions. But
the dexterous management of Cortes had committed
them too far to allow any reasonable expectation of
indulgence from this quarter. After some hesitation,
therefore, it was determined to embrace the protection
of the Spaniards, and to make one bold effort for the
recovery of freedom. Oaths of allegiance were taken
by the chiefs to the Spanish sovereigns, and duly
recorded by Godoy, the royal notary. Cortes, satis-
fied with the important acquisition of so many vassals
to the crown, set out soon after for the destined port,
having first promised to revisit Cempoalla, where his
business was but partially accomplished. 26
The spot selected for the new city was only half a
league distant, in a wide and fruitful plain, affording a
tolerable haven for the shipping. Cortes was not long
in determining the circuit of the walls, and the sites
of the fort, granary, town-house, temple, and other
public buildings. The friendly Indians eagerly assisted,
by bringing materials, stone, lime, wood, and bricks
dried in the sun. Every man put his hand to the
work. The general labored with the meanest of the
soldiers, stimulating their exertions by his example as
well as voice. In a few weeks the task was accom-
as Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 8l. — Rel. Seg. de Cortes,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 40. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 34-36, ap. Barcia, torn,
ii. — Bernal Diaz, Conquista, cap. 46, 47. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec.
2, lib. 5, cap. 10, 11.
FOUNDATION OF VERA CRUZ.
345
plished, and a town rose up, which, if not quite worthy
of the aspiring name it bore, answered most of the
purposes for which it was intended. It served as a
good point d 1 appui for future operations; a place of
retreat for the disabled, as well as for the army in case
of reverses ; a magazine for stores, and for such arti-
cles as might be received from or sent to the mother-
country; a port for the shipping ; a position of sufficient
strength to overawe the adjacent country. 27
It was the first colony — the fruitful parent of so many
others — in New Spain. It was hailed with satisfaction
by the simple natives, who hoped to repose in safety
under its protecting shadow. Alas ! they could not
read the future, or they would have found no cause to
rejoice in this harbinger of a revolution more tremen-
dous than any predicted by their bards and prophets.
It was not the good Quetzalcoatl who had returned to
claim his own again, bringing peace, freedom, and
civilization in his train. Their fetters, indeed, would
be broken, and their wrongs be amply avenged on the
*7 Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. — Bernal Diaz, Conquista, cap. 48. —
Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1. — Declaracion de Mon-
tejo, MS. — Notwithstanding the advantages of its situation, La Villa
Rica was abandoned in a few years for a neighboring position to the
south, not far from the mouth of the Antigua. This second settle-
ment was known by the name of Vera Cruz Vieja, " Old Vera Cruz."
Early in the seventeenth century this place, also, was abandoned foi
the present city, Nueva Vera Cruz, or New Vera Cruz, as it is called.
(See ante, chap. 5, note 8.) Of the true cause of these successive
migrations we are ignorant. If, as is pretended, it was on account of
the vomiio, the inhabitants, one would suppose, can have gained little
by the exchange. (See Humboldt, Essai politique, torn. ii. p. 210.)
A want of attention to these changes has led to much confusion and
inaccuracy in the ancient maps. Lorenzana has not escaped them in
his chart and topographical account of the route of Cortes.
346 AZTEC CIVILIZATION.
proud head of the Aztec. But it was to be by that
strong arm which should bow down equally the op-
pressor and the oppressed. The light of civilization
would be poured on their land. But it would be the
light of a consuming fire, before which their barbaric
glory, their institutions, their very existence and name
as a nation, would wither and become extinct ! Their
doom was sealed when the white man had set his foot
on their soil.
CHAPTER VIII.
ANOTHER AZTEC EMBASSY. — DESTRUCTION OF THE
IDOLS. — DESPATCHES SENT TO SPAIN. — CONSPIRACY
IN THE CAMP. — THE FLEET SUNK.
1519.
While the Spaniards were occupied with their new
settlement, they were surprised by the presence of an
embassy from Mexico. The account of the imprison-
ment of the royal collectors had spread rapidly through
the country. When it reached the capital, all were
filled with amazement at the unprecedented daring
of the strangers. In Montezuma every other feeling,
even that of fear, was swallowed up in indignation ;
and he showed his wonted energy in the vigorous
preparations which he instantly made to punish his re-
bellious vassals and to avenge the insult offered to the
majesty of the empire. But when the Aztec officers
liberated by Cortes reached the capital and reported
the courteous treatment they had received from the
Spanish commander, Montezuma's anger was miti-
gated, and his superstitious fears, getting the ascend-
ency again, induced him to resume his former timid
and conciliatory policy. He accordingly sent an em-
bassy, consisting of two youths, his nephews, and four
of the ancient nobles of his court, to the Spanish quar-
(347)
348 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
ters. He provided them, in his usual munificent spirit,
with a princely donation of gold, rich cotton stuffs,
and beautiful mantles of the filumaje, or feather em-
broidery. The envoys, on coming before Cortes, pre-
sented him with the articles, at the same time offering
the acknowledgments of their master for the courtesy
he had shown in liberating his captive nobles. He was
surprised and afflicted, however, that the Spaniards
should have countenanced his faithless vassals in their
rebellion. He had no doubt they were the strangers
whose arrival had been so long announced by the
oracles, and of the same lineage with himself. 1 From
deference to them he would spare the Totonacs, while
they were present. But the time for vengeance would
come.
Cortes entertained the Indian chieftains with frank
hospitality. At the same time, he took care to make
such a display of his resources as, while it amused their
minds, should leave a deep impression of his power.
He then, after a few trifling gifts, dismissed them with
a conciliatory message to their master, and the assur-
ance that he should soon pay his respects to him in his
capital, where all misunderstanding between them would
be readily adjusted.
The Totonac allies could scarcely credit their senses,
when they gathered the nature of this interview. Not-
withstanding the presence of the Spaniards, they had
looked with apprehension to the consequences of their
1 " Teniendo respeto a que tiene por cierto, que somos los que sus
antepassados les auian dicho, que auian de venir a sus tierras, £ que
deuemos de ser de sus linajes." Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 48.
STRICT DISCIPLINE.
349
rash act; and their feelings of admiration were height-
ened into awe for the strangers who, at this distance,
could exercise so mysterious an influence over the terri-
ble Montezuma. 2
Not long after, the Spaniards received an application
from the cacique of Cempoalla to aid him in a dispute
in which he was engaged with a neighboring city.
Cortes marched with a part of his forces to his support.
On the route, one Morla, a common soldier, robbed a
native of a couple of fowls. Cortes, indignant at this
violation of his orders before his face, and aware of the
importance of maintaining a reputation for good faith
with his allies, commanded the man to be hung up,
at once, by the roadside, in face of the whole army.
Fortunately for the poor wretch, Pedro de Alvarado,
the future conqueror of Quiche, was present, and ven-
tured to cut down the body, while there was yet life in
it. He, probably, thought enough had been done for
example, and the loss of a single life, unnecessarily,
was more than the little band could afford. The an-
ecdote is characteristic, as showing the strict discipline
maintained by Cortes over his men, and the freedom
assumed by his captains, who regarded him on terms
nearly of equality, — as a fellow-adventurer with them-
selves. This feeling of companionship led to a spirit
of insubordination among them, which made his own
post as commander the more delicate and difficult.
On reaching the hostile city, but a few leagues from
the coast, they were received in an amicable manner ;
and Cort6s, who was accompanied by his allies, had
8 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 37. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap.
82.
Vox. I. 30
35°
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
the satisfaction of reconciling these different branches
of the Totonac family with each other, without blood-
shed. He then returned to Cempoalla, where he was
welcomed with joy by the people, who were now im-
pressed with as favorable an opinion of his moderation
and justice as they had before been of his valor. In
token of his gratitude, the Indian cacique delivered to
the general eight Indian maidens, richly dressed, wear-
ing collars and ornaments of gold, with a number of
female slaves to wait on them. They were daughters
of the principal chiefs, and the cacique requested that
the Spanish captains might take them as their wives.
Cortes received the damsels courteously, but told the
cacique they must first be baptized, as the sons of the
Church could have no commerce with idolaters. 3 He
then declared that it was a great object of his mission
to wean the natives from their heathenish abominations,
and besought the Totonac lord to allow his idols to be
cast down, and the symbols of the true faith to be
erected in their place.
To this the other answered, as before, that his gods
were good enough for him ; nor could all the persua-
sion of the general, nor the preaching of Father Olmedo,
induce him to acquiesce. Mingled with his polythe-
ism, he had conceptions of a Supreme and Infinite
Being, Creator of the Universe, and his darkened
understanding could not comprehend how such a Being
could condescend to take the form of humanity, with
3 " De buena gana recibirian las Doncellas como fuesen Christianas ;
porque de otra manera, no era permitido & hombres, hijos de la Igle-
sia de Dios, tener comercio con idolatras." Herrera, Hist, general,
dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 13.
DESTRUCTION OF THE IDOLS. 351
its infirmities and ills, and wander about on earth, the
voluntary victim of persecution from the hands of
those whom his breath had called into existence. 4 He
plainly told the Spaniards that he would resist any
violence offered to his gods, who would, indeed, avenge
the act themselves, by the instant destruction of their
enemies.
But the zeal of the Christians had mounted too high
to be cooled by remonstrance or menace. During
their residence in the land, they had witnessed more
than once the barbarous rites of the natives, their cruel
sacrifices of human victims, and their disgusting can-
nibal repasts. 5 Their souls sickened at these abomina-
tions, and they agreed with one voice to stand by their
general, when he told them that " Heaven would never
smile on their enterprise if they countenanced such
atrocities, and that, for his own part, he was resolved
the Indian idols should be demolished that very hour,
if it cost him his life." To postpone the work of
conversion was a sin. In the enthusiasm of the moment,
4-Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 13. — Las Casas, Hist.
de las Indias, MS,, lib. 3, cap. 122. — Herrera has put a very edifying
harangue, on this occasion, into the mouth of Cortes, which savors
much more of the priest than the soldier. Does he not confound him
with Father Olmedo?
S " Esto habemos visto," says the Letter of Vera Cruz, " algunos de
nosotros, y los que lo han visto dizen que es la mas terrible y la mas
espantosa cosa de ver que jamas han visto." Still more strongly
speaks Bernal Diaz. (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 51.) The Letter
computes that there were fifty or sixty persons thus butchered in each
of the teocallis every year; giving an annual consumption, in the
countries which the Spaniards had then visited, of three or four thou-
sand victims! (Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.) However loose this
arithmetic may be, the general fact is appalling.
35 2 DISCO VER Y OF MEXICO.
the dictates of policy and ordinary prudence were alike
unheeded.
Scarcely waiting for his commands, the Spaniards
moved towards one of the principal teocallis, or tem-
ples, which rose high on a pyramidal foundation, with
a steep ascent of stone steps in the middle. The ca-
cique, divining their purpose, instantly called his men
to arms. The Indian warriors gathered from all quar-
ters, with shrill cries and clashing of weapons ; while
the priests, in their dark cotton robes, with dishevelled
tresses matted with blood, flowing wildly over their
shoulders, rushed frantic among the natives, calling on
them to protect their gods from violation ! All was
now confusion, tumult, and warlike menace, where so
lately had been peace and the sweet brotherhood of
nations.
Cortes took his usual prompt and decided measures.
He caused the cacique and some of the principal in-
habitants and priests to be arrested by his soldiers. He
then commanded them to quiet the people, for, if an
arrow was shot against a Spaniard, it should cost every
one of them his life. Marina, at the same time, rep-
resented the madness of resistance, and reminded the
cacique that if he now alienated the affections of the
Spaniards he would be left without a protector against
the terrible vengeance of Montezuma. These temporal
considerations seem to have had more weight with the
Totonac chieftain than those of a more spiritual nature.
He covered his face with his hands, exclaiming that the
gods would avenge their own wrongs.
The Christians were not slow in availing themselves
of his tacit acquiescence. Fifty soldiers, at a signal
DESTRUCTION OF THE IDOLS.
553
from their general, sprang up the great stairway of the
temple, entered the building on the summit, the walls
of which were black with human gore, tore the huge
wooden idols from their foundations, and dragged them
to the edge of the terrace. Their fantastic forms and
features, conveying a symbolic meaning, which was
lost on the Spaniards, seemed in their eyes only the
hideous lineaments of Satan. With great alacrity they
rolled the colossal monsters down the steps of the
pyramid, amidst the triumphant shouts of their own
companions, and the groans and lamentations of the
natives. They then consummated the whole by burning
them in the presence of the assembled multitude.
The same effect followed as in Cozumel. The To-
tonacs, finding their deities incapable of preventing or
even punishing this profanation of their shrines, con-
ceived a mean opinion of their power, compared with
that of the mysterious and formidable strangers. The
floor and walls of the teocalli were then cleansed, by
command of Cortes, from their foul impurities ; a fresh
coating of stucco was laid on them by the Indian
masons ; and an altar was raised, surmounted by a lofty
cross, and hung with garlands of roses. A procession
was next formed, in which some of the principal To-
tonac priests, exchanging their dark mantles for robes
of white, carried lighted candles in their hands ; while
an image of the Virgin, half smothered under the
weight of flowers, was borne aloft, and, as the pro-
cession climbed the steps of the temple, was depos-
ited above the altar. Mass was performed by Father
Olmedo, and the impressive character of the ceremony
and the passionate eloquence of the good priest touched
3°*
354
DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
the feelings of the motley audience, until Indians as
well as Spaniards, if we may trust the chronicler, were
melted into tears and audible sobs. The Protestant
missionary seeks to enlighten the understanding of his
convert by the pale light of reason. But the bolder
Catholic, kindling the spirit by the splendor of the
spectacle and by the glowing portrait of an agonized
Redeemer, sweeps along his hearers in a tempest of
passion, that drowns everything like reflection. He
has secured his convert, however, by the hold on his
affections, — an easier and more powerful hold, with
the untutored savage, than reason.
An old soldier named Juan de Torres, disabled by
bodily infirmity, consented to remain and watch over
the sanctuary and instruct the natives in its services.
Cortes then, embracing his Totonac allies, now bro-
thers in religion as in arms, set out once more for
the Villa Rica, where he had some arrangements to
complete previous to his departure for the capital. 6
He was surprised to find that a Spanish vessel had
arrived there in his absence, having on board twelve
soldiers and two horses. It was under the command
of a captain named Saucedo, a cavalier of the ocean,
who had followed in the track of Cortes in quest of
adventure. Though a small, they afforded a very sea-
sonable body of recruits for the little army. By these
men, the Spaniards were informed that Velasquez, the
governor of Cuba, had lately received a warrant from
6 Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.— Bernal
Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 51, 52. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 43.
— Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 13, 14. — Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.
DESPATCHES SENT TO SPAIN.
355
the Spanish government to establish a colony in the
newly-discovered countries. •'
Cortes now resolved to put a plan in execution which
he had been some time meditating. He knew that all
the late acts of the colony, as well as his own authority,
would fall to the ground without the royal sanction.
He knew, too, that the interest of Velasquez, which
was great at court, would, so soon as he was acquainted
with his secession, be wholly employed to circumvent
and crush him. He resolved to anticipate his move-
ments, and to send a vessel to Spain with despatches
addressed to the emperor himself, announcing the
nature and extent of his discoveries, and to obtain,
if possible, the confirmation of his proceedings. In
order to conciliate his master's good will, he further
proposed to send him such a present as should suggest
lofty ideas of the importance of his own services to
the crown. To effect this, the royal fifth he consid-
ered inadequate. He conferred with his officers, and
persuaded them to relinquish their share of the treas
ure. At his instance, they made a similar application
to the soldiers ; representing that it was the earnest
wish of the general, who set the example by resigning
his own fifth, equal to the share of the crown. It was
but little that each man was asked to surrender, but
the whole would make a present worthy of the monarch
for whom it was intended. By this sacrifice they might
hope to secure his indulgence for the past and his favor
for the future ; a temporary sacrifice, that would be
well repaid by the security of the rich possessions
which awaited them in Mexico. A paper was then
circulated among the soldiers, which all who were dis-
356 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
posed to relinquish their shares were requested to sign.
Those who declined should have their claims respected,
and receive the amount due to them. No one refused
to sign ; thus furnishing another example of the extraor-
dinary power obtained by Cortes over these rapacious
spirits, who, at his call, surrendered up the very treas-
ures which had been the great object of their hazardous
enterprise ! 7
7 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 53. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist.
Chich., MS., cap. 82. — Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.
A complete inventory of the articles received from Montezuma is
contained in the Carta de Vera Cruz, — The following are a few of the
items.
Two collars made of gold and precious stones.
A hundred ounces of gold ore, that their Highnesses might see in
what state the gold came from the mines.
Two birds made of green feathers, with feet, beaks, and eyes of
gold, — and, in the same piece with them, animals of gold, resembling
snails.
A large alligator's head of gold.
A bird of green feathers, with feet, beak, and eyes of gold.
Two birds made of thread and feather-work, having the quills of
their wings and tails, their feet, eyes, and the ends of their beaks, of
gold, — standing upon two reeds covered with gold, which are raised
on balls of feather-work and gold embroidery, one white and the
other yellow, with seven tassels of feather-work hanging from each
of them.
A large silver wheel weighing forty-eight marks, several bracelets
and leaves of the same metal, together with five smaller shields, the
whole weighing sixty-two marks of silver.
A box of feather-work embroidered on leather, with a large plate
of gold, weighing seventy ounces, in the midst.
Two pieces of cloth woven with feathers ; another with variegated
colors ; and another worked with black and white figures.
A large wheel of gold, with figures of strange animals on it, and
worked with tufts of leaves ; weighing three thousand eight hundred
ounces.
DESPATCHES SENT TO SPAIN. 357
He accompanied this present with a letter to the
emperor, in which he gave a full account of all that
had befallen him since his departure from Cuba ; of
his various discoveries, battles, and traffic with the
natives ; their conversion to Christianity ; his strange
perils and sufferings ; many particulars respecting the
lands he had visited, and such as he could collect in
regard to the great Mexican monarchy and its sov-
ereign. He stated his difficulties with the governor
of Cuba, the proceedings of the army in reference to
colonization, and besought the emperor to confirm
their acts, as well as his own authority, expressing his
entire confidence that he should be able, with the aid
of his brave followers, to place the Castilian crown in
possession of this great Indian empire. 8
This was the celebrated First Letter, as it is called,
of Cortes, which has hitherto eluded every search that
has been made for it in the libraries of Europe. 9 Its
A fan of variegated feather-work, with thirty-seven rods plated
with gold.
Five fans of variegated feathers, — four of which have ten, and the
other thirteen, rods embossed with gold.
Sixteen shields of precious stones, with feathers of various colors
hanging from their rims.
Two pieces of cotton very richly wrought with black and white
embroidery.
Six shields, each covered with a plate of gold, with something
resembling a golden mitre in the centre.
8 " Una muy larga Carta," says Gomara, in his loose analysis of it,
Cronica, cap. 40.
9 Dr. Robertson states that the Imperial Library at Vienna was
examined for this document, at his instance, but without success.
(History of America, vol. ii. note 70.) I have not been more fortunate
in the researches made for me in the British Museum, the Royal
Library of Paris, and that of the Academy of History at Madrid.
358 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
existence is fully established by references to it, both
in his own subsequent letters, and in the writings of
contemporaries. 10 Its general purport is given by his
The last is a great depository for the colonial historical documents ;
but a very thorough inspection of its papers makes it certain that this
is wanting to the collection. As the emperor received it on the eve
of his embarkation for Germany, and the Letter of Vera Cruz, for-
warded at the same time, is in the library of Vienna, this would seem,
after all, to be the most probable place of its retreat.
10 " By a ship," says Cortes, in the very first sentence of his Second
Letter to the emperor, "which I despatched from this your sacred
majesty's province of New Spain on the 16th of July of the year 1519,
I sent your highness a very long and particular relation of what had
happened from my coming hither up to that time." (Rel. Seg. de
Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 3S.) " Cortes wrote," says Bernal Diaz, " as
he informed us, an accurate report, but we did not see his letter."
(Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 53.) (Also, Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind.,
MS., lib. 33, cap. 1, and Gomara, ut supra.) Were it not for these
positive testimonies, one might suppose that the Carta de Vera Cruz
had suggested an imaginary letter of Cortes. Indeed, the copy of the
former document belonging to the Spanish Academy of History —
and perhaps the original at Vienna — bears the erroneous title of
" Primera Relacion de Cortes."*
* [There can be little doubt that the " Letter of Vera Cruz" is the
document referred to by Cortes, writing in October, 1520, as the
" muy larga y particular Relacion" which he had "despatched" to
the emperor in the summer of the preceding year. This language
would not necessarily imply that the letter so described bore his own
signature, while it was a natural mode of designating one of which he
was the real author. It is easy to understand why, holding as yet
no direct commission from the crown, he should have been less solicit-
ous to appear as the narrator of his own exploits than to give them
an appearance of official sanction and cover up his irregularity in not
addressing his report to Velasquez, the official superior from whose
control he was seeking to emancipate himself. Nor is it necessary, in
accepting this hypothesis, to reject the statement of Bernal Diaz that
Cortes sent to the emperor a relation under his own hand which he did
not show to his companions. It seems to have been his habit on sub-
DESPATCHES SENT TO SPAIN.
359
chaplain, Gomara. The importance of the document
has doubtless been much overrated ; and, should it
ever come to light, it will probably be found to add
little of interest to the matter contained in the letter
from Vera Cruz, which has formed the basis of the
preceding portion of our narrative. Cortes had no
sources of information beyond those open to the authors
of the latter document. He was even less full and
frank in his communications, if it be true that he sup-
pressed all notice of the discoveries of his two imme-
diate predecessors."
The magistrates of the Villa Rica, in their epistle,
went over the same ground with Cortes ; concluding
with an emphatic representation of the misconduct of
Velasquez, whose venality, extortion, and selfish de-
votion to his personal interests, to the exclusion of
those of his sovereigns as well as of his own followers,
they placed in a most clear and unenviable light. 12
" This is the imputation of Bernal Diaz, reported on hearsay, as
he admits he never saw the letter himself. Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 54.
12 " Fingiendo mill cautelas," says Las Casas, politely, of this part
of the letter, "y afirmando otras muchas falsedades e mentiras"l
Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.
sequent occasions, when sending a detailed report, to accompany it
with a briefer and more private letter, giving a summary of what was
contained in the longer document, sometimes with the addition of
other matter, to be read by the emperor himself. One such letter,
cited hereafter (vol. iii. p. 266, note), mentions "una relacion bien
larga y particular," which he was sending under the same date. That
letters of this kind should not always have been preserved can excite
no surprise; but it is highly improbable that the same fate should
have befallen a full official report, the first of a series otherwise complete
and disseminated by means of copies. — Ed.]
360 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
They implored the government not to sanction his in-
terference with the new colony, which would be fatal
to its welfare, but to commit the undertaking to Her-
nando Cortes, as the man most capable, by his ex-
perience and conduct, of bringing it to a glorious
termination. 13
With this letter went also another in the name of the
citizen-soldiers of Villa Rica, tendering their dutiful
submission to the sovereigns, and requesting the con-
firmation of their proceedings, above all, that of Cortes
as their general.
The selection of the agents for the mission was a
delicate matter, as on the result might depend the
future fortunes of the colony and its commander.
«3 This document is of the greatest value and interest, coming as it
does from the best-instructed persons in the camp. It presents an
elaborate record of all then known of the countries they had visited,
and of the principal movements of the army, to the time of the founda-
tion of the Villa Rica. The writers conciliate our confidence by the
circumspect tone of their narration. " Querer dar," they say, "&
Vuestra Magestad todas las particularidades de esta tierra y gente de
ella, podria ser que en algo se errase la relacion, porque muchas de
ellas no se han visto mas de por informaciones de los naturales de
ella, y por esto no nos entremetemos a dar mas de aquello que por
muy cierto y verdadero Vras. Reales Altezas podran mandar tener."
The account given of Velasquez, however, must be considered as an
ex parte testimony, and, as such, admitted with great reserve. It was
essential to their own vindication, to vindicate Cortes. The letter has
never been printed. The original exists, as above stated, in the Im-
perial Library at Vienna. The copy in my possession, covering more
than sixty pages folio, is taken from that of the Academy of History
at Madrid.*
* [The letter has since been printed, from the original at Vienna, in
the Col. de Doc. ined. para la Hist, de Espafia, torn. i. — ED.]
DESPATCHES SENT TO SPAIN. 361
Cort6s intrusted the affair to two cavaliers on whom
he could rely ; Francisco de Montejo, the ancient part
tisan of Velasquez, and Alonso Hernandez de Puerto-
carrero. The latter officer was a near kinsman of the
count of Medellin, and it was hoped his high connec-
tions might secure a favorable influence at court.
Together with the treasure, which seemed to verify
the assertion that "the land teemed with gold as abun-
dantly as that whence Solomon drew the same precious
metal for his temple," 14 several Indian manuscripts
were sent. Some were of cotton, others of the Mexi-
can agave. Their unintelligible characters, says a chron-
icler, excited little interest in the Conquerors. As
evidence of intellectual culture, hoAvever, they formed
higher objects of interest to a philosophic mind than
those costly fabrics which attested only the mechanical
ingenuity of the nation. 15 Four Indian slaves were
added as specimens of the natives. They had been
rescued from the cages in which they were confined for
sacrifice. One of the best vessels of the fleet was
selected for the voyage, manned by fifteen seamen,
and placed under the direction of the pilot Alaminos.
He was directed to hold his course through the Bahama
channel, north of Cuba, or Fernandina, as it was then
called, and on no account to touch at that island, or
any other in the Indian Ocean. With these instruc-
M " A nuestra parecer se debe creer, que ai en esta tierra tanto
quanto en aquella de donde se dize aver llevado Salomon el oro para
el templo." Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.
J 5 Peter Martyr, pre-eminent above his contemporaries for the en-
lightened views he took of the new discoveries, devotes half a chapter
to the Indian manuscripts, in which he recognized the evidence of a
civilization analogous to the Egyptian. De Orbe Novo, dec. 4, cap. 8.
Vol. I. — q 31
362 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
tions, the good ship took its departure on the 26th of
July, freighted with the treasures and the good wishes
of the community of the Villa Rica de Vera Cruz.
After a quick run the emissaries made the island of
Cuba, and, in direct disregard of orders, anchored
before Marien, on the northern side of the island.
This was done to accommodate Montejo, who wished
to visit a plantation owned by him in the neighbor-
hood. While off the port, a sailor got on shore, and,
crossing the island to St. Jago, the capital, spread
everywhere tidings of the expedition, until they reached
the ears of Velasquez. It was the first intelligence
which had been received of the armament since its
departure ; and, as the governor listened to the recital,
it would not be easy to paint the mingled emotions
of curiosity, astonishment, and wrath which agitated
his bosom. In the first sally of passion, he poured a
'storm of invective on the heads of his secretary and
treasurer, the friends of Cortes, who had recommended
him as the leader of the expedition. After somewhat
relieving himself in this way, he despatched two fast-
sailing vessels to Marien with orders to seize the rebel
ship, and, in case of her departure, to follow and
overtake her.
But before the ships could reach that port the bird
had flown, and was far on her way across the broad
Atlantic. Stung with mortification at this fresh disap-
pointment, Velasquez wrote letters of indignant com-
plaint to the government at home, and to the Hierony-
mite fathers in Hispaniola, demanding redress. He
obtained little satisfaction from the latter. He resolved,
however, to take the matter into his own hands, and
CONSPIRACY IN THE CAMP. 363
set about making formidable preparations for another
squadron, which should be more than a match for that
under his rebellious officer. He was indefatigable in his
exertions, visiting every part of the island, and straining
all his resources to effect his purpose. The prepara-
tions were on a scale that necessarily consumed many
months.
Meanwhile the little vessel was speeding her pros-
perous way across the waters, and, after touching at
one of the Azores, came safely into the harbor of St.
Lucar, in the month of October. However long it
may appear in the more perfect nautical science of our
day, it was reckoned a fair voyage for that. Of what
befell the commissioners on their arrival, their recep-
tion at court, and the sensation caused by their intelli-
gence, I defer the account to a future chapter. 16
Shortly after the departure of the commissioners, an
affair occurred of a most unpleasant nature. A number
of persons, with the priest Juan Diaz at their head,
ill-affected, from some cause or other, towards the ad-
ministration of Cortes, or not relishing the hazardous
expedition before them, laid a plan to seize one of
the vessels, make the best of their way to Cuba, and
report to the governor the fate of the armament. It
was conducted with so much secrecy that the party had
got their provisions, water, and everything necessary
for the voyage, on board, without detection ; when the
16 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 54-57. — Gomara, Cro-
nica, cap. 40. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 14. — Carta
de Vera Cruz, MS. — Martyr's copious information was chiefly derived
from his conversations with Alaminos and the two envoys, on their
arrival at court. De Orbe Novo, dec. 4, cap. 6, et alibi ; also Idem,
Opus Epistolarum (Amstelodami, 1670), ep. 650.
364 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
conspiracy was betrayed, on the very night they were
to sail, by one of their own number, who repented the
part he had taken in it. The general caused the per-
sons implicated to be instantly apprehended. An ex-
amination was instituted. The guilt of the parties was
placed beyond a doubt. Sentence of death was passed
on two of the ringleaders ; another, the pilot, was
condemned to lose his feet, and several others to be
whipped. The priest, probably the most guilty of the
whole, claiming the usual benefit of clergy, was per-
mitted to escape. One of those condemned to the
gallows was named Escudero, the very alguacil who,
the reader may remember, so stealthily apprehended
Cortes before the sanctuary in Cuba. 17 The general,
on signing the death-warrants, was heard to exclaim,
"Would that I had never learned to write !" It was
not the first time, it was remarked, that the exclamation
had been uttered in similar circumstances. 18
The arrangements being now. finally settled at the
Villa Rica, Cortes sent forward Alvarado, with a large
part of the army, to Cempoalla, where he soon after
joined them with the remainder. The late affair of
the conspiracy seems to have made a deep impression
on his mind. It showed him that there were timid
spirits in the camp on whom he could not rely, and
z 7 See ante, p. 239.
18 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 57. — Oviedo, Hist, de
las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 2. — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS.,
lib. 3, cap. 122. — Demanda de Narvaez, MS. — Rel. Seg. de Cortes,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 41. — It was the exclamation of Nero, as reported
by Suetonius. " Et cum de supplicio cujusdam capite damnati ut ex
more subscriberet, admoneretur, ' Quam vellem,' inquit, ' nescire
literas !' " Lib. 6, cap. 10.
CONSPIRACY IN THE CAMP.
3 6 5
who, he feared, might spread the seeds of disaffection
among their companions. Even the more resolute, on
any occasion of disgust or disappointment hereafter,
might falter in purpose, and, getting possession of the
vessels, abandon the enterprise. This was already too
vast, and the odds were too formidable, to authorize
expectation of success with diminution of numbers.
Experience showed that this was always to be appre-
hended while means of escape were at hand. 19 The
best chance for success was to cut off these means.
He came to the daring resolution to destroy the fleet,
without the knowledge of his army.
When arrived at Cempoalla, he communicated his
design to a few of his devoted adherents, who entered
warmly into his views. Through them he readily per-
suaded the pilots, by means of those golden arguments
which weigh more than any other with ordinary minds,
to make such a report of the condition of the fleet as
suited his purpose. The ships, they said, were griev-
ously racked by the heavy gales they had encountered,
and, what was worse, the worms had eaten into their
sides and bottoms until most of them were not sea-
worthy, and some, indeed, could scarcely now be kept
afloat.
Cortes received the communication with surprise ;
"for he could well dissemble," observes Las Casas,
19 " Y porque," says Cortes, " demas de los que por ser criados y
amigos de Diego Velasquez tenian voluntad de salir de la Tierra, habia
otros, que por verla tan grande, y de tanta gente, y tal, y ver los pocos
Espanoles qae eramos, estaban del mismo proposito ; creyendo, que
si alii los navios dejasse, se me alzarian con ellos, y yendose todos log
que de esta voluntad estavan, yo quedaria casi solo."
31*
366 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
with his usual friendly comment, "when it suited his
interests." "If it be so," he exclaimed, "we must
make the best of it ! Heaven's will be done !" M He
then ordered five of the worst conditioned to be dis-
mantled, their cordage, sails, iron, and whatever was
movable, to be brought on shore, and the ships to be
sunk. A survey was made of the others, and, on a
similar report, four more were condemned in the same
manner. Only one small vessel remained !
When the intelligence reached the troops in Cem-
poalla, it caused the deepest consternation. They saw
themselves cut off by a single blow from friends, family,
country ! The stoutest hearts quailed before the pros-
pect of being thus abandoned on a hostile shore, a
handful of men arrayed against a formidable empire.
When the news arrived of the destruction of the five
vessels first condemned, they had acquiesced in it as a
necessary measure, knowing the mischievous activity
of the insects in these tropical seas. But, when this
was followed by the loss of the remaining four, sus-
picions of the truth flashed on their minds. They felt
they were betrayed. Murmurs, at first deep, swelled
louder and louder, menacing open mutiny. " Their
general," they said, "had led them like cattle to be
butchered in the shambles !" 2I The affair wore a most
20 " Mostro quando se lo dixeron mucho sentimiento Cortes, porque
savia bien hacer fingimientos quando le era provechoso, y rrespondidles
que mirasen vien en ello, e que si no estavan para navegar que diesen
gracias & Dios por ello, pues no se podia hacer mas." Las Casas,
Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.
21 " Decian, que los queria meter en el matadero." Gomara, Cr6-
nica, cap. 42.
THE FLEET SUNK. 367
alarming aspect. In no situation was Cortes ever ex-
posed to greater danger from his soldiers."
His presence of mind did not desert him at this
crisis. He called his men together, and, employing
the tones of persuasion rather than authority, assured
them that a survey of the ships showed they were not
fit for service. If he had ordered them to be destroyed,
they should consider, also, that his was the greatest
sacrifice, for they were his property, — all, indeed, he
possessed in the world. The troops, on the other
hand, would derive one great advantage from it, by the
addition of a hundred able-bodied recruits, before re-
quired to man the vessels. But, even if the fleet had
been saved, it could have been of little service in their
present expedition ; since they would not need it if
they succeeded, while they would be too far in the in-
terior to profit by it if they failed. He besought them
to turn their thoughts in another direction. To be
thus calculating chances and means of escape was un-
worthy of brave souls. They had set their hands to
the work ; to look back, as they advanced, would be
their ruin. They had only to resume their former con-
fidence in themselves and their general, and success
was certain. "As for me," he concluded, "I have
chosen my part. I will remain here, while there is
one to bear me company. If there be any so craven
as to shrink from sharing the dangers of our glo-
rious enterprise, let them go home, in God's name.
22 " Al cavo lo ovieron de sentir la gente y ayna se le amotinaran
muchos, y esta fue uno de los peligros que pasaron por Cortes de
muchos que para matallo de los mismos Espanoles estuvo." Las
Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.
$68 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
There is still one vessel left. Let them take that
and return to Cuba. They can tell there how they
deserted their commander and their comrades, and
patiently wait till we return loaded with the spoils of
the Aztecs." 23
The politic orator had touched the right chord in
the bosoms of the soldiers. As he spoke, their resent-
ment gradually died away. The faded visions of future
riches and glory, rekindled by his eloquence, again
floated before their imaginations. The first shock
over, they felt ashamed of their temporary distrust.
The enthusiasm for their leader revived, for they felt
that under his banner only they could hope for victory ;
and, as he concluded, they testified the revulsion of
their feelings by making the air ring with their shouts,
" To Mexico ! to Mexico !"
The destruction of his fleet by Cortes is, perhaps, the
most remarkable passage in the life of this remarkable
man. History, indeed, affords examples of a similar
expedient in emergencies somewhat similar ; but none
where the chances of success were so precarious and
defeat would be so disastrous. 24 Had he failed, it
=3 " Que ninguno seria tan cobarde y tan pusilanime que queria
estimar su vida mas que la suya, ni de tan debil corazon que dudase
de ir con el a Mexico, donde tanto bien le estaba aparejado, y que si
acaso se determinaba alguno de dejar de hacer este se podia ir bendito
de Dios a Cuba en el navio que habia dexado, de que antes de mucho
se arrepentiria, y pelaria las barbas, viendo la buena ventura que
esperaba le sucederia." Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 82.
"4 Perhaps the most remarkable of these examples is that of Julian,
who, in his unfortunate Assyrian invasion, burnt the fleet which had
carried him up the Tigris. The story is told by Gibbon, who shows
very satisfactorily that the fleet would have proved a hinderance rather
THE FLEET SUNK. 369
might well seem an act of madness. Yet it was the
fruit of deliberate calculation. He had set fortune,
fame, life itself, all upon the cast, and must abide the
issue. There was no alternative in his mind but to
succeed or perish. The measure he adopted greatly-
increased the chance of success. But to carry it into
execution, in the face of an incensed and desperate
soldiery, was an act of resolution that has few parallels
in history. 2S
than a help to the emperor in his further progress. See History of the
Decline and Fall, vol. ix. p. 177, of Milman's excellent edition.
2 5 The account given in the text of the destruction of the fleet is not
that of Bernal Diaz, who states it to have been accomplished not only
with the knowledge, but entire approbation of the army, though at
the suggestion of Cortes. (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 58.) This
version is sanctioned by Dr. Robertson (History of America, vol. ii.
pp. 253, 254). One should be very slow to depart from the honest
record of the old soldier, especially when confirmed by the discrimi-
nating judgment of the Historian of America. But Cortes expressly
declares in his letter to the emperor that he ordered the vessels to be
sunk, without the knowledge of his men, from the apprehension that,
if the means of escape were open, the timid and disaffected might at
some future time avail themselves of them. (Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 41.) The cavaliers Montejo and Puertocarrero, on their
visit to Spain, stated, in their depositions, that the general destroyed
the fleet on information received from the pilots. (Declaraciones,
MSS.) Narvaez in his accusation of Cortes, and Las Casas, speak
of the act in terms of unqualified reprobation, charging him, moreover,
with bribing the pilots to bore holes in the bottoms of the ships in
order to disable them. (Demanda de Narvaez, MS. — Hist, de las
Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.) The same account of the transaction,
though with a very different commentary as to its merits, is repeated
by Oviedo (Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 2), Gomara (Cronica,
cap. 42), and Peter Martyr (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1), all of
whom had access to the best sources of information. The affair, so
remarkable as the act of one individual, becomes absolutely incredi-
ble when considered as the result of so many independent wills. It
370 DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
is not improbable that Bernal Diaz, from his known devotion to the
cause, may have been one of the few to whom Cortes confided his
purpose. The veteran, in writing his narrative, many years after, may
have mistaken a part for the whole, and in his zeal to secure to the
army a full share of the glory of the expedition, too exclusively appro-
priated by the general (a great object, as he tells us, of his history),
may have distributed among his comrades the credit of an exploit
which, in this instance, at least, properly belonged to their commander.
Whatever be the cause of the discrepancy, his solitary testimony can
hardly be sustained against the weight of contemporary evidence from
such competent sources.*
* [Prescott's account of the circumstances attending the destruc-
tion of the fleet has been contested at great length by Senor Ramirez,
who insists on accepting the statements of Bernal Diaz without quali-
fication and ascribing to the army an equal share with the general
in the merit of the act. He remarks with truth that the language of
Cortes — " Tuve manera, como so color que los dichos navios no esta-
ban para navegar, los eche a la costa" — contains no express declara-
tion, as stated by Prescott, that the order for the fleet to be sunk was
given without the knowledge of the army, but would, at the most, lead
to an inference to that effect. " Nor can even this," he adds, " be
admitted, since, in order to persuade the soldiers that the ships were
unfit for sailing, he must have had an understanding with the mariners
who were to make the statement, and with his friends who were to
confirm it.'' This is, however, very inefficient reasoning. It is not
pretended that Cortes had no confidants and agents in the transaction.
The question of real importance is, Was the resolution taken, as Bernal
Diaz asserts, openly and by the advice of the whole army, — " clara-
mente, por consejo de todos los demas soldados' ' ? or was it formed by
Cortes, and were measures taken for giving effect to it, without any
communication with the mass of his followers ? The newly discovered
relation of Tapia is cited by Senor Ramirez as "in perfect accordance
with the testimony of Diaz and destructive of every supposition of
mystery and secrecy." Yet Tapia says, with Herrera, that Cortes
caused holes to be bored in the ships and their unserviceable condition
to be reported to him, and thereupon gave orders for their destruction ;
no mention being made of the concurrence of the soldiers at any stage
of the proceedings. — Ed.]
LAS CASAS
371
Fray Bartolome de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, whose " History of
the Indies " forms an important authority for the preceding pages, was
one of the most remarkable men of the sixteenth century. He was
born at Seville in 1474. His father accompanied Columbus, as a
common soldier, in his first voyage to the New World; and he
acquired wealth enough by his vocation to place his son at the Uni-
versity of Salamanca. During his residence there, he was attended
by an Indian page, whom his father had brought with him from His-
paniola. Thus the uncompromising advocate for freedom began his
career as the owner of a slave himself. But he did not long remain
so, for his slave was one of those subsequently liberated by the gener-
ous commands of Isabella.
In 1498 he completed his studies in law and divinity, took his
degree of licentiate, and in 1502 accompanied Oviedo, in the most
brilliant armada which had been equipped for the Western World.
Eight years after, he was admitted to priest's orders in St. Domingo,
an event somewhat memorable, since he was the first person conse-
crated in that holy office in the colonies. On the occupation of Cuba
by the Spaniards, Las Casas passed over to that island, where he ob-
tained a curacy in a small settlement. He soon, however, made him-
self known to the governor, Velasquez, by the fidelity with which he
discharged his duties, and especially by the influence which his mild
and benevolent teaching obtained for him over the Indians. Through
his intimacy with the governor, Las Casas had the means of amelior-
ating the condition of the conquered race, and from this time he may
be said to have consecrated all his energies to this one great object.
At this period, the scheme of repartimientos, introduced soon after the
discoveries of Columbus, was in full operation, and the aboriginal
population of the islands was rapidly melting away under a system of
oppression which has been seldom paralleled in the annals of man-
kind. Las Casas, outraged at the daily exhibition of crime and misery,
returned to Spain to obtain some redress from government. Ferdi-
nand died soon after his arrival. Charles was absent, but the reins
were held by Cardinal Ximenes, who listened to the complaints of the
benevolent missionary, and, with his characteristic vigor, instituted a
commission of three Hieronymite friars, with full authority, as already
noticed in the text, to reform abuses. Las Casas was honored, for his
exertions, with the title of" Protector General of the Indians."
The new commissioners behaved with great discretion. But their
office was one of consummate difficulty, as it required time to intro-
372 LAS CASAS.
duce important changes in established institutions. The ardent and
impetuous temper of Las Casas, disdaining every consideration of
prudence, overleaped all these obstacles, and chafed under what he
considered the lukewarm and temporizing policy of the commissioners.
As he was at no pains to conceal his disgust, the parties soon came to
a misunderstanding with each other ; and Las Casas again returned
to the mother-country, to stimulate the government, if possible, to
more effectual measures for the protection of the natives.
He found the country under the administration of the Flemings,
who discovered from the first a wholesome abhorrence of the abuses
practised in the colonies, and who, in short, seemed inclined to tol-
erate no peculation or extortion but their own. They acquiesced,
without much difficulty, in the recommendations of Las Casas, who
proposed to relieve the natives by sending out Castilian laborers and
by importing negro slaves into the islands. This last proposition has
brought heavy obloquy on the head of its author, who has been freely
accused of having thus introduced negro slavery into the New World.
Others, with equal groundlessness, have attempted to vindicate his
memory from the reproach of having recommended the measure at
all. Unfortunately for the latter assertion, Las Casas, in his History
of the Indies, confesses, with deep regret and humiliation, his advice
on this occasion, founded on the most erroneous views, as he frankly
states ; since, to use his own words, " the same law applies equally to
the negro as to the Indian." But, so far from having introduced slavery
by this measure into the islands, the importation of blacks there dates
from the beginning of the century. It was recommended by some of
the wisest and most benevolent persons in the colony, as the means of
diminishing the amount of human suffering ; since the African was
more fitted by his constitution to endure the climate and the severe
toil imposed on the slave, than the feeble and effeminate islander. It
was a suggestion of humanity, however mistaken, and, considering the
circumstances under which it occurred, and the age, it may well be
forgiven in Las Casas, especially taking into view that, as he became
more enlightened himself, he was so ready to testify his regret at
having unadvisedly countenanced the measure.
The experiment recommended by Las Casas was made, but, through
the apathy of Fonseca, president of the Indian Council, not heartily, —
and it failed. The good missionary now proposed another and much
bolder scheme. He requested that a large tract of country in Tierra
Firme, in the neighborhood of the famous pearl-fisheries, might be
LAS CASAS.
373
ceded to him for the purpose of planting a colony there, and of con-
verting the natives to Christianity. He required that none of the
authorities of the islands, and no military force, especially, should be
allowed to interfere with his movements. He pledged himself by
peaceful means alone to accomplish all that had been done by vio-
lence in other quarters. He asked only that a certain number of
laborers should attend him, invited by a bounty from government, and
that he might further be accompanied by fifty Dominicans, who were
to be distinguished like himself by a peculiar dress, that should lead
the natives to suppose them a different race of men from the Span-
iards. This proposition was denounced as chimerical and fantastic by
some, whose own opportunities of observation entitled their judgment
to respect. These men declared the Indian, from his nature, incapa-
ble of civilization. The question was one of such moment that Charles
the Fifth ordered the discussion to be conducted before him. The
opponent of Las Casas was first heard, when the good missionary, in
answer, warmed by the noble cause he was to maintain, and nothing
daunted by the august presence in which he stood, delivered himself
with a fervent eloquence that went directly to the hearts of his audi-
tors. " The Christian religion," he concluded, " is equal in its opera-
tion, and is accommodated to every nation on the globe. It robs no
one of his freedom, violates none of his inherent rights, on the ground
that he is a slave by nature, as pretended; and it well becomes your
Majesty to banish so monstrous an oppression from your kingdoms in
the beginning of your reign, that the Almighty may make it long and
glorious."
In the end Las Casas prevailed. He was furnished with the men
and means for establishing his colony, and in 1520 embarked for
America. But the result was a lamentable failure. The country as-
signed to him lay in the neighborhood of a Spanish settlement, which
had already committed some acts of violence on the natives. To quell
the latter, now thrown into commotion, an armed force was sent by
the young " Admiral " from Hispaniola. The very people, among
whom Las Casas was to appear as the messenger of peace, were thus
involved in deadly strife with his countrymen. The enemy had been
before him in his own harvest. While waiting for the close of these
turbulent scenes, the laborers, whom he had taken out with him, dis-
persed, in despair of effecting their object. And after an attempt to
pursue, with his faithful Dominican brethren, the work of colonization
further, other untoward circumstances compelled them to abandon the
Vol. I. 32
374
LAS CASAS.
project altogether. Its unfortunate author, overwhelmed with chagrin,
took refuge in the Dominican monastery in the island of Hispaniola.
The failure of the enterprise should, no doubt, be partly ascribed to
circumstances beyond the control of its projector. Yet it is impos-
sible not to recognize in the whole scheme, and in the conduct of it,
the hand of one much more familiar with books than men, who, in the
seclusion of the cloister, had meditated and matured his benevolent
plans, without fully estimating the obstacles that lay in their way, and
who counted too confidently on meeting the same generous enthu-
siasm in others which glowed in his own bosom.
He found, in his disgrace, the greatest consolation and sympathy
ffom the brethren of St. Dominic, who stood forth as the avowed
champions of the Indians on all occasions, and showed themselves as
devoted to the cause of freedom in the New World as they had been
hostile to it in the Old. Las Casas soon became a member of their
order, and, in his monastic retirement, applied himself for many years
to the performance of his spiritual duties, and the composition of
various works, all directed, more or less, to vindicate the rights of the
Indians. Here, too, he commenced his great work, the " Historia
general de las Indias," which he pursued, at intervals of leisure, from
1527 till a few years before his death. His time, however, was not
wholly absorbed by these labors ; and he found means to engage in
several laborious missions. He preached the gospel among the natives
of Nicaragua and Guatemala, and succeeded in converting and re-
ducing to obedience some wild tribes in the latter province, who had
defied the arms of his countrymen. In all these pious labors he was
sustained by his Dominican brethren. At length, in 1539, he crossed
the waters again, to seek further assistance and recruits among the
members of his order.
A great change had taken place in the board that now presided over
the colonial department. The cold and narrow-minded Fonseca, who,
during his long administration, had, it may be truly said, shown him-
self the enemy of every great name and good measure connected
with the Indians, had died. His place, as president of the Indian
Council, was filled by Loaysa, Charles's confessor. This functionary,
general of the Dominicans, gave ready audience to Las Casas, and
showed a good will to his proposed plans of reform. Charles, too,
now grown older, seemed to feel more deeply the responsibility of his
station, and the necessity of redressing the wrongs, too long tolerated,
of his American subjects. The state of the colonies became a common
LAS CASAS.
375
topic of discussion, not only in the council, but in the court ; and the
representations of Las Casas made an impression that manifested
itself in the change of sentiment more clearly every day. He promoted
this by the publication of some of his writings at this time, and espe-
cially of his " Brevisima Relacion," or Short Account of the Destruc-
tion of the Indies, in which he sets before the reader the manifold
atrocities committed by his countrymen in different parts of the New
World in the prosecution of their conquests. It is a tale of woe.
Every line of the work may be said to be written in blood. However
good the motives of its author, we may regret that the book was ever
written. He would have been certainly right not to spare his country-
men ; to exhibit their misdeeds in their true colors, and by this appall-
ing picture — for such it would have been — to have recalled the nation,
and those who governed it, to a proper sense of the iniquitous career
it was pursuing on the other side of the water. But, to produce a
more striking effect, he has lent a willing ear to every tale of violence
and rapine, and magnified the amount to a degree which borders on
the ridiculous. The wild extravagance of his numerical estimates is
of itself sufficient to shake confidence in the accuracy of his statements
generally. Yet the naked truth was too startling in itself to demand
the aid of exaggeration. The book found great favor with foreigners ;
was rapidly translated into various languages, and ornamented with
characteristic designs, which seemed to put into action all the recorded
atrocities of the text. It excited somewhat different feelings in his
own countrymen, particularly the people of the colonies, who con-
sidered themselves the subjects of a gross, however undesigned, mis-
representation ; and in his future intercourse with them it contributed,
no doubt, to diminish his influence and consequent usefulness, by the
spirit of alienation, and even resentment, which it engendered.
Las Casas' honest intentions, his enlightened views and long expe-
rience, gained him deserved credit at home. This was visible in the
important regulations made at this time for the better government of
the colonies, and particularly in respect to the aborigines. A code of
laws, Las Nucvas Leyes, was passed, having for their avowed object
the enfranchisement of this unfortunate race ; and in the wisdom and
humanity of its provisions it is easy to recognize the hand of the Pro-
tector of the Indians. The history of Spanish colonial legislation is
the history of the impotent struggles of the government in behalf of
the natives, against the avarice and cruelty of its subjects. It proves
that an empire powerful at home — and Spain then was so — may
376 LAS CAS AS.
be so widely extended that its authority shall scarcely be felt in its
extremities.
The government testified their sense of the signal services of Las
Casas by promoting him to the bishopric of Cuzco, one of the richest
sees in the colonies. But the disinterested soul of the missionary did
not covet riches or preferment. He rejected the proffered dignity
without hesitation. Yet he could not refuse the bishopric of Chiapa,
a country which, from the poverty and ignorance of its inhabitants,
offered a good field for his spiritual labors. In 1544, though at the
advanced age of seventy, he took upon himself these new duties, and
embarked, for the fifth and last time, for the shores of America. His
fame had preceded him. The colonists looked on his coming with
apprehension, regarding him as the real author of the new code, which
struck at their ancient immunities, and which he would be likely to
enforce to the letter. Everywhere he was received with coldness.
In some places his person was menaced with violence. But the ven-
erable presence of the prelate, his earnest expostulations, which flowed
so obviously from conviction, and his generous self-devotion, so re-
gardless of personal considerations, preserved him from this outrage.
Yet he showed no disposition to conciliate his opponents by what he
deemed an unworthy concession ; and he even stretched the arm of
authority so far as to refuse the sacraments to any who still held an
Indian in bondage. This high-handed measure not only outraged
the planters, but incurred the disapprobation of his own brethren in
the Church. Three years were spent in disagreeable altercation with-
out coming to any decision. The Spaniards, to borrow their accus-
tomed phraseology on these occasions, " obeying the law, but not
fulfilling it," applied to the court for further instructions ; and the
bishop, no longer supported by his own brethren, thwarted by the
colonial magistrates, and outraged by the people, relinquished a post
where his presence could be no longer useful, and returned to spend
the remainder of his days in tranquillity at home.
Yet, though withdrawn to his Dominican convent, he did not pass
his hours in slothful seclusion. He again appeared as the champion
of Indian freedom in the famous controversy with Sepulveda, one of
the most acute scholars of the time, and far surpassing Las Casas in
elegance and correctness of composition. But the Bishop of Chiapa
was his superior in argument, at least in this discussion, where he had
right and reason on his side. In his "Thirty Propositions," as they
are called, in which he sums up the several points of his case, he main-
LAS CASAS.
377
tains that the circumstance of infidelity in religion cannot deprive a
nation of its political rights; that the Holy See, in its grant of the New
World to the Catholic sovereigns, designed only to confer the right
of converting its inhabitants to Christianity, and of thus winning a
peaceful authority over them ; and that no authority could be valid
which rested on other foundations. This was striking at the root of
the colonial empire as assumed by Castile. But the disinterested
views of Las Casas, the respect entertained for his principles, and the
general conviction, it may be, of the force of his arguments, prevented
the court from taking umbrage at their import, or from pressing them
to their legitimate conclusion. While the writings of his adversary
were interdicted from publication, he had the satisfaction to see his
own printed and circulated in every quarter.
From this period his time was distributed among his religious duties,
his studies, and the composition of his works, especially his History.
His constitution, naturally excellent, had been strengthened by a life
of temperance and toil ; and he retained his faculties unimpaired to
the last. He died after a short illness, July, 1566, at the great age of
ninety-two, in his monastery of Atocha, at Madrid.
The character of Las Casas may be inferred from his career. He
was one of those to whose gifted minds are revealed those glorious
moral truths which, like the lights of heaven, are fixed and the same
forever, but which, though now familiar, were hidden from all but a
few penetrating intellects by the general darkness of the time in which
he lived. He was a reformer, and had the virtues and errors of a
reformer. He was inspired by one great and glorious idea. This was
the key to all his thoughts, to all that he said and wrote, to every act
of his long life. It was this which urged him to lift the voice of rebuke
in the presence of princes, to brave the menaces of an infuriated
populace, to cross seas, to traverse mountains and deserts, to incur
the alienation of friends, the hostility of enemies, to endure obloquy,
insult, and persecution. It was this, too, which made him reckless of
obstacles, led him to count too confidently on the co-operation of
others, animated his discussion, sharpened his invective, too often
steeped his pen in the gall of personal vituperation, led him into gross
exaggeration and over-coloring in his statements, and a blind credulity
of evil that rendered him unsafe as a counsellor and unsuccessful in
the practical concerns of life. His views were pure and elevated.
But his manner of enforcing them was not always so commendable.
This may be gathered not only from the testimony of the colonists
32*
378 LAS CASAS.
generally, who, as parties interested, may be supposed to have been
prejudiced, but from that of the members of his own profession, per-
sons high in office, and of integrity beyond suspicion, not to add that of
missionaries engaged in the same good work with himself. These, in
their letters and reported conversations, charged the Bishop of Chiapa
with an arrogant, uncharitable temper, which deluded his judgment,
and vented itself in unwarrantable crimination against such as resisted
his projects or differed from him in opinion. Las Casas, in short, was
a man. But, if he had the errors of humanity, he had virtues that
rarely belong to it. The best commentary on his character is the
estimation which he obtained in the court of his sovereign. A liberal
pension was settled on him after his last return from America, which
he chiefly expended on charitable objects. No measure of importance
relating to the Indians was taken without his advice. He lived to see
the fruits of his efforts in the positive amelioration of their condition,
and in the popular admission of those great truths which it had been
the object of his life to unfold. And who shall say how much of the
successful efforts and arguments since made in behalf of persecuted
humanity may be traced to the example and the writings of this illus-
trious philanthropist?
His compositions were numerous, most of them of no great length.
Some were printed in his time ; others have since appeared, especially
in the French translation of Llorente. His great work, which occu-
pied him at intervals for more than thirty years, the Historia general
de las Indias, still remains in manuscript. It is in three volumes,
divided into as many parts, and embraces the colonial history from
the discovery of the country by Columbus to the year 1520. The
style of the work, like that of all his writings, is awkward, disjointed,
and excessively diffuse, abounding in repetitions, irrelevant digressions,
and pedantic citations. But it is sprinkled over with passages of a
different kind ; and, when he is roused by the desire to exhibit some
gross wrong to the natives, his simple language kindles into eloquence,
and he expounds those great and immutable principles of natural
justice which in his own day were so little understood. His defect as
a historian is that he wrote history, like everything else, under the influ-
ence of one dominant idea. He is always pleading the cause of the
persecuted native. This gives a coloring to events which passed under
his own eyes, and filled him with a too easy confidence in those which
he gathered from the reports of others. Much of the preceding por-
tion of our narrative which relates to affairs in Cuba must have come
LAS CASAS.
379
under his persona] observation. But he seems incapable of shading
off his early deference to Velasquez, who, as we have noticed, treated
him, while a poor curate in the island, with peculiar confidence. For
Cortes, on the other hand, he appears to have felt a profound con-
tempt. He witnessed the commencement of his career, when he was
standing, cap in hand, as it were, at the proud governor's door, thank-
ful even for a smile of recognition. Las Casas remembered all this,
and, when he saw the Conqueror of Mexico rise into a glory and re-
nown that threw his former patron into the shade, — and most unfairly,
as Las Casas deemed, at the expense of that patron,— the good bishop
could not withhold his indignation, nor speak of him otherwise than
with a sneer, as a mere upstart adventurer.
It is the existence of defects like these, and the fear of the mis-
conception likely to be produced by them, that have so long prevented
the publication of his history. At his death, he left it to the convent
of San Gregorio, at Valladolid, with directions that it should not be
printed for forty years, nor be seen during that time by any layman or
member of the fraternity. Herrera, however, was permitted to consult
it, and he liberally transferred its contents to his own volumes, which
appeared in 1601. The Royal Academy of History revised the first
volume of Las Casas some years since, with a view to the publication
of the whole work. But the indiscreet and imaginative style of the
composition, according to Navarrete, and the consideration that its
most important facts were already known through other channels,
induced that body to abandon the design. With deference to their
judgment, this seems to-me a mistake. Las Casas, with every deduc-
tion, is one of the great writers of the nation ; great from the im-
portant truths which he discerned when none else could see them, and
from the courage with which he proclaimed them to the world. They
are scattered over his History as well as his other writings. They are
not, however, the passages transcribed by Herrera. In the statement
of fact, too, however partial and prejudiced, no one will impeach his
integrity; and, as an enlightened contemporary, his 'evidence is of
undeniable value. It is due to the memory of Las Casas that, if his
work be given to the public at all, it should not be through the
garbled extracts of one who was no fair interpreter of his opinions.
Las Casas does not speak for himself in the courtly pages of Herrera.
Yet the History should not be published without a suitable com-
mentary to enlighten the student and guard him against anv undue
prejudices in the writer. We may hope that the entire manuscript will
380 LAS CASAS.
one day be given to the world under the auspices of that distinguished
body which has already done so much in this way for the illustration
of the national annals.
The life of Las Casas has been several times written. The two
memoirs most worthy of notice are that by Llorente, late Secretary of
the Inquisition, prefixed to his French translation of the bishop's con-
troversial writings, and that by Quintana, in the third volume of his
" Espafioles celebres," where it presents a truly noble specimen of
biographical composition, enriched by a literary criticism as acute as
it is candid. I have gone to the greater length in this notice, from the
interesting character of the man, and the little that is known of him to
the English reader. I have also transferred a passage from his work
in the original to the Appendix, that the Spanish scholar may form an
idea of his style of composition. He ceases to be an authority for us
henceforth, as his account of the expedition of Cortes terminates with
the destruction of the navy.
BOOK THIRD.
MARCH TO MEXICO.
(381)
BOOK III.
MARCH TO MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
PROCEEDINGS AT CEMPOALLA. THE SPANIARDS CLIMB
THE TABLE-LAND. — PICTURESQUE SCENERY. TRANS-
ACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES. EMBASSY TO TLASCALA.
1519.
While at Cempoalla, Cortes received a message from
Escalante, his commander at Villa Rica, informing him
there were four strange ships hovering off the coast,
and that they took no notice of his repeated signals.
This intelligence greatly alarmed the general, who
feared they might be a squadron sent by the governor
of Cuba to interfere with his movements. In much
haste, he set out at the head of a few horsemen, and,
ordering a party of light infantry to follow, posted
back to Villa Rica. The rest of the army he left
in charge of Alvarado and of Gonzalo de Sandoval,
a young officer who had begun to give evidence of
the uncommon qualities which have secured to him
so distinguished a rank among the conquerors of
Mexico.
(3S3)
384 MARCH TO MEXICO.
Escalante would have persuaded the general, on his
reaching the town, to take some rest, and allow him to
go in search of the strangers. But Cortes replied with
the homely proverb, " A wounded hare takes no nap," r
and, without stopping to refresh himself or his men,
pushed on three or four leagues to the north, where he
understood the ships were at anchor. On the way, he
fell in with three Spaniards, just landed from them.
To his eager inquiries whence they came, they replied
that they belonged to a squadron fitted out by Fran-
cisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica. This person,
the year previous, had visited the Florida coast, and
obtained from Spain — where he had some interest at
court — authority over the countries he might discover
in that vicinity. The three men, consisting of a
notary and two witnesses, had been sent on shore to
warn their countrymen under Cortes to desist from
what was considered an encroachment on the terri-
tories of Garay. Probably neither the governor of
Jamaica nor his officers had any very precise notion of
the geography and limits of these territories.
Cortes saw at once there was nothing to apprehend
from this quarter. He would have been glad, how-
ever, if he could by any means have induced the
crews of the ships to join his expedition. He found
no difficulty in persuading the notary and his com-
panions. But when he came in sight of the vessels,
the people on board, distrusting the good terms on
which their comrades appeared to be with the Span-
iards, refused to send their boat ashore. In this di-
lemma, Cortes had recourse to a stratagem.
1 " Cabra coja no tenga siesta."
PROCEEDINGS AT CEMPOALLA.
385
He ordered three of his own men to exchange dresses
with the new-comers. He then drew off his little band
in sight of the vessels, affecting to return to the city.
In the night, however, he came back to the same place,
and lay in ambush, directing the disguised Spaniards,
when the morning broke, and they could be discerned,
to make signals to those on board. The artifice suc-
ceeded. A boat put off, filled with armed men, and
three or four leaped on shore. But they soon detected
the deceit, and Cortes, springing from his ambush,
made them prisoners. Their comrades in the boat,
alarmed, pushed off, at once, for the vessels, which
soon got under way, leaving those on shore to their
fate. Thus ended the affair. Cortes returned to Cem-
poalla, with the addition of half a dozen able-bodied
recruits, and, what was of more importance, relieved
in his own mind from the apprehension of interference
with his operations. 2
He now made arrangements for his speedy departure
from the Totonac capital. The forces reserved for the
expedition amounted to about four hundred foot and
fifteen horse, with seven pieces of artillery. He ob-
tained, also, from the cacique of Cempoalla, thirteen
hundred warriors, and a thousand tamanes, or porters, to
drag the guns and transport the baggage. He took forty
more of their principal men as hostages, as well as to
guide him on the way and serve him by their counsels
among the strange tribes he was to visit. They were,
* Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1. — Rel. Seg. de
Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 42-45. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Con-
quista, cap. 59, 60.
Vol. I.— r 33
386 MARCH TO MEXICO.
in fact, of essential service to him throughout the
march. 3
The remainder of his Spanish force he left in garri-
son at Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, the command of which
he had intrusted to the alguacil, Juan de Escalante, an
officer devoted to his interests. The selection was
judicious. It was important to place there a man who
would resist any hostile interference from his European
rivals, on the one hand, and maintain the present
friendly relations with the natives, on the other.
Cortes recommended the Totonac chiefs to apply to
this officer in case of any difficulty, assuring them that
so long as they remained faithful to their new sovereign
and religion they should find a sure protection in the
Spaniards.
Before marching, the general spoke a few words of
encouragement to his own men. He told them they
were now to embark in earnest on an enterprise which
had been the great object of their desires, and that the
blessed Saviour would carry them victorious through
every battle with their enemies. "Indeed," he added,
"this assurance must be our stay, for every other re-
fuge is now cut off but that afforded by the providence
of God and your own stout hearts." 4 He ended by
3 Gomara, Cronica, cap. 44. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap.
83. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 61. — The number of the
Indian auxiliaries stated in the text is much larger than that allowed
by either Cortes or Diaz. But both these actors in the drama show
too obvious a desire to magnify their own prowess, by exaggerating
the numbers of their foes and diminishing their own, to be entitled to
much confidence in their estimates.
4 " No teniamos otro socorro, ni ayuda sino el de Dios; porque ya
no teniamos nauios para ir a Cuba, salvo nuestro buen pelear y cora-
cones fuertes." Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 59.
PROCEEDINGS AT CEMPOALLA.
3§7
comparing their achievements to those of the ancient
Romans, "in phrases of honeyed eloquence far beyond
anything I can repeat," says the brave and simple-
hearted chronicler who heard them. Cortes was, in-
deed, master of that eloquence which went to the
soldiers' hearts. For their sympathies were his, and
he shared in that romantic spirit of adventure which
belonged to them. "We are ready to obey you,"
they cried as with one voice. " Our fortunes, for
better or worse, are cast with yours." 5 Taking leave,
therefore, of their hospitable Indian friends, the little
army, buoyant with high hopes and lofty plans of con-
quest, set forward on the march to Mexico.
It was the sixteenth of August, 15 19. During the
first day, their road lay through the tierra caliente, the
beautiful land where they had been so long lingering ;
the land of the vanilla, cochineal, cacao (not till later
days of the orange and the sugar-cane), products which,
indigenous to Mexico, have now become the luxuries
of Europe ; the land where the fruits and the flowers
chase one another in unbroken circle through the year ;
where the gales are loaded with perfumes till the sense
aches at their sweetness, and the groves are filled with
many-colored birds, and insects whose enamelled wings
glisten like diamonds in the bright sun of the tropics.
Such are the magical splendors of this paradise of the
senses. Yet Nature, who generally works in a spirit of
compensation, has provided one here ; since the same
burning sun which quickens into life these glories of
the vegetable and animal kingdoms calls forth the
5 " Y todos a vna le respondimos, que hariamos lo que ordenasse,
que echada estaua la suerte de la bucna 6 mala ventura." Loc. cit.
388
MARCH TO MEXICO.
pestilent malaria, with its train of bilious disorders,
unknown to the cold skies of the North. The season
in which the Spaniards were there, the rainy months
of summer, was precisely that in which the vbmito rages
with greatest fury ; when the European stranger hardly
ventures to set his foot on shore, still less to linger there
a day. We find no mention made of it in the records
of the Conquerors, nor any notice, indeed, of an un-
common mortality. The fact doubtless corroborates
the theory of those who postpone the appearance of
the yellow fever till long after the occupation of the
country by the whites. It proves, at least, that, if ex-
isting before, it must have been in a very much miti-
gated form.
After some leagues of travel over roads made nearly
impassable by the summer rains, the troops began the
gradual ascent — more gradual on the eastern than the
western declivities of the Cordilleras — which leads up
to the table-land of Mexico. At the close of the second
day they reached Xalapa, a place still retaining the
same Aztec name that it has communicated to the drug
raised in its environs, the medicinal virtues of which
are now known throughout the world. 6 This town
stands midway up the long ascent, at an elevation
where the vapors from the ocean, touching in their
westerly progress, maintain a rich verdure throughout
the year. Though somewhat infected with these marine
fogs, the air is usually bland and salubrious. The
wealthy resident of the lower regions retires here for
safety in the heats of summer, and the traveller hails
6 Jalap, Convolvulus jalapcs. The *• and/ are convertible conso-
nants in the Castilian.
THE SPANIARDS CLIMB THE TABLE-LAND. 3S9
its groves of oak with delight, as announcing that he is
above the deadly influence of the vbmito. 1 From this
delicious spot, the Spaniards enjoyed one of the grandest
prospects in nature. Before them was the steep ascent
— much steeper after this point — which they were to
climb. On the right rose the Sierra Madre, girt with
its dark belt of pines, and its long lines of shadowy
hills stretching away in the distance. To the south, in
brilliant contrast, stood the mighty Orizaba, with his
white robe of snow descending far down his sides,
towering in solitary grandeur, the giant spectre of the
Andes. Behind them, they beheld, unrolled at their
feet, the magnificent tierra caliente, with its gay con-
fusion of meadows, streams, and flowering forests,
sprinkled over with shining Indian villages, while a
faint line of light on the edge of the horizon told them
that there was the ocean, beyond which were the kin-
dred and country they were many of them never more
to see.
Still winding their way upward, amidst scenery as
different as was the temperature from that of the re-
gions below, the army passed through settlements con-
taining some hundreds of inhabitants each, and on the
fourth day reached a "strong town," as Cortes terms
it, standing on a rocky eminence, supposed to be that
now known by the Mexican name of Naulinco. Here
they were hospitably entertained by the inhabitants,
who were friends of the Totonacs. Cortes endeavored,
7 The heights of Xalapa are crowned with a convent dedicated to
St. Francis, erected in later days by Cortes, showing, in its solidity,
like others of the period built under the same auspices, says an agree-
able traveller, a military as well as religious design. Tudor's Travels
in North America (London, 1834), vol. ii. p. 186.
33*
39°
MARCH TO MEXICO.
through Father Olmedo, to impart to them some know]
edge of Christian truths, which were kindly received,
and the Spaniards were allowed to erect a cross in the
place, for the future adoration of the natives. Indeed,
the route of the army might be tracked by these em-
blems of man's salvation, raised wherever a willing
population of Indians invited it, suggesting a very dif-
ferent idea from what the same memorials intimate to
the traveller in these mountain solitudes in our day. 8
8 Ovicdo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1. — Rel. Seg. de
Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 40. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 44. — Ixtlil-
xochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. — " Every hundred yards of our
route," says the traveller last quoted, speaking of this very region,
"was marked by the melancholy erection of a wooden cross, denot-
ing, according to the custom of the country, the commission of some
horrible murder on the spot where it was planted." (Travels in North
America, vol. ii. p. 188.) — [Senor Alaman stoutly defends his country-
men from this gross exaggeration, as he pronounces it, of Mr. Tudor.
For although it is unhappily true, he says, that travellers were formerly
liable to be attacked in going from the city of Mexico to Vera Cruz,
and that the diligence which passes over this road is still frequently
stopped, yet it is very seldom that personal violence is offered. " Foreign
tourists are prone to believe all the stories of atrocities that are re-
lated to them, and generally, at inns, fall into the society of persons
who take delight in furnishing a large supply of such materials. The
crosses that are to be met with in the country are not so numerous as
is pretended ; nor are ail of them memorials of assassinations com-
mitted in the places where they have been erected. Many are merely
objects of devotion, and others indicate the spot where two roads
diverge from each other. We must, nevertheless, confess that this
matter is one that demands all the attention of the government ; while
the candid foreigner will doubtless admit that it is not easy to exercise
police supervision over roads on which the central points of population
lie far apart, as in countries like ours, instead of being so near that
a watch can be maintained from them over the intermediate spaces, as
is the case in most countries of Europe and in a great part of the
United States." Conquista de Mejico (trad, de Vega), torn. i. p. 251.]
ARDUOUS MARCH.
39 1
The troops now entered a rugged defile, the Bishop's
Pass, 9 as it is called, capable of easy defence against
an army. Very soon they experienced a most unwel-
come change of climate. Cold winds from the moun-
tains, mingled with rain, and, as they rose still higher,
with driving sleet and hail, drenched their garments,
and seemed to penetrate to their very bones. The
Spaniards, indeed, partially covered by their armor
and thick jackets of quilted cotton, were better able to
resist the weather, though their long residence in the
sultry regions of the valley made them still keenly
sensible to the annoyance. But the poor Indians,
natives of the tierra caliente, with little protection in
the way of covering, sank under the rude assault of
the elements, and several of them perished on the road.
The aspect of the country was as wild and dreary as
the climate. Their route wound along the spur of the
huge Cofre de Perote, which borrows its name, both
in Mexican and Castilian, from the coffer-like rock
on its summit. 10 It is one of the great volcanoes of
New Spain. It exhibits now, indeed, no vestige of a
crater on its top, but abundant traces of volcanic action
at its base, where acres of lava, blackened scoriae, and
cinders proclaim the convulsions of nature, while nu-
merous shrubs and mouldering trunks of enormous
trees, among the crevices, attest the antiquity of these
9 El. Paso del Obispo. Cortes named it Puerto del Nombre de Dios.
Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. ii.
10 The Aztec name is Nauhcampatepetl, from naukca?nfa, " any-
thing square," and tepetl, "a mountain." — Humboldt, who waded
through forests and snows to its summit, ascertained its height to be
4089 metres, = 13,414 feet, above the sea. See his Vues des Cor-
dilleras, p. 234, and Essai politique, vol. i. p. 266.
392
MARCH TO MEXICO.
events. Working their toilsome way across this scene
of desolation, the path often led them along the bor-
ders of precipices, down whose sheer depths of two or
three thousand feet the shrinking eye might behold
another climate, and see all the glowing vegetation of
the tropics choking up the bottom of the ravines.
After three days of this fatiguing travel, the way-
worn army emerged through another defile, the Sierra
del Agua." They soon came upon an open reach of
country, with a genial climate, such as belongs to the
temperate latitudes of southern Europe. They had
reached the level of more than seven thousand feet
above the ocean, where the great sheet of table-land
spreads out for hundreds of miles along the crests of
the Cordilleras. The country showed signs of careful
cultivation, but the products were, for the most part,
not familiar to the eyes of the Spaniards. Fields and
hedges of the various tribes of the cactus, the towering
organum, and plantations of aloes with rich yellow
clusters of flowers on their tall stems, affording drink
and clothing to the Aztec, were everywhere seen. The
plants of the torrid and temperate zones had disap-
peared, one after another, with the ascent into these
elevated regions. The glossy and dark-leaved banana,
the chief, as it is the cheapest, aliment of the coun-
tries below, had long since faded from the landscape.
The hardy maize, however, still shone with its golden
harvests in all the pride of cultivation, the" great staple
of the higher equally with the lower terraces of the
plateau.
11 The same mentioned in Cortes' Letter as the Puerto de la Lena.
Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. iii.
TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES.
393
Suddenly the troops came upon what seemed the
environs of a populous city, which, as they entered it,
appeared to surpass even that of Cempoalla in the size
and solidity of its structures. 12 These were of stone
and lime, many of them spacious and tolerably high.
There were thirteen teocallis in the place ; and in the
suburbs they had seen a receptacle, in which, according
to Bernal Diaz, were stored a hundred thousand skulls
of human victims, all piled and ranged in order ! He
reports the number as one he had ascertained by count-
ing them himself. 13 Whatever faith we may attach to
the precise accuracy of his figures, the result is almost
equally startling. The Spaniards were destined to
become familiar with this appalling spectacle as they
approached nearer to the Aztec capital.
The lord of the town ruled over twenty thousand
vassals. He was tributary to Montezuma, and a strong
Mexican garrison was quartered in the place. He had
probably been advised of the approach of the Span-
iards, and doubted how far it would be welcome to his
sovereign. At all events, he gave them a cold recep-
tion, the more unpalatable after the extraordinary suf-
ferings of the last few days. To the inquiry of Cortes,
whether he were subject to Montezuma, he answered,
12 Now known by the euphonious Indian name of Tlatlauqnitepec.
(Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. iv.) It is the Cocotlan of Bernal Diaz.
(Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 61.) The old Conquerors made sorry
work with the Aztec names, both of places and persons, for which
they must be allowed to have had ample excuse.
»3 " Puestos tantos rimeros de calaueras de muertos, que se podian
bien contar, segun el concierto con que estauan puestas, que me parece
que eran mas de cien rail, y digo otra vez sobre cien mil." Ibid.,
ubi supra.
394 MARCH TO MEXICO.
with real or affected surprise, "Who is there that is
not a vassal of Montezuma?" 14 The general told him,
with some emphasis, that he was not. He then explained
whence and why he came, assuring him that he served
a monarch who had princes for his vassals as powerful
as the Aztec monarch himself.
The cacique, in turn, fell nothing short of the
Spaniard in the pompous display of the grandeur and
resources of the Indian emperor. He told his guest
that Montezuma could muster thirty great vassals, each
master of a hundred thousand men ! 1S His revenues
were immense, as every subject, however poor, paid
something. They were all expended on his magnifi-
cent state and in support of his armies. These were
continually in the field, while garrisons were main-
tained in most of the large cities of the empire. More
than twenty thousand victims, the fruit of his wars,
were annually sacrificed on the altars of his gods ! His
capital, the cacique said, stood in a lake, in the centre
of a spacious valley. The lake was commanded by
the emperor's vessels, and the approach to the city
was by means of causeways, several miles long, con-
nected in parts by wooden bridges, which, when raised,
J 4 " El qual casi admirado de lo que le preguntaba, me respondid,
diciendo; ique quien no era vasallo de Muctezuma? queriendo decir,
que alii era Sefior del Mundo." Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana,
p. 47.
J 5 " Tiene mas de 30 Principes & si subjectos, que cada uno dellos
tiene cient mill hombres e mas de pelea." (Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind.,
MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.) This marvellous tale is gravely repeated by
more than one Spanish writer, in their accounts of the Aztec mon-
archy, not as the assertion of this chief, but as a veritable piece of
statistics. See, among others, Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 7,
cap. 12 — Solis, Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 16.
TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES. 395
cut off all communication with the country. Some
other things he added, in answer to queries of his
guest, in which, as the reader may imagine, the crafty
or credulous cacique varnished over the truth with a
lively coloring of romance. Whether romance, or
reality, the Spaniards could not determine. The par-
ticulars they gleaned were not of a kind to tranquillize
their minds, and might well have made bolder hearts
than theirs pause, ere they advanced. But far from
it. "The words which we heard," says the stout old
cavalier so often quoted, "however they may have
filled us with wonder, made us — such is the temper
of the Spaniard — only the more earnest to prove the
adventure, desperate as it might appear." l6
In a further conversation Cortes inquired of the
chief whether his country abounded in gold, and inti-
mated a desire to take home some, as specimens, to his
sovereign. But the Indian lord declined to give him
any, saying it might displease Montezuma. "Should
he command it," he added, "my gold, my person,
and all I possess, shall be at your disposal." The
general did not press the matter further.
The curiosity of the natives was naturally excited
by the strange dresses, weapons, horses, and dogs of
the Spaniards. Marina, in satisfying their inquiries,
took occasion to magnify the prowess of her adopted
countrymen, expatiating on their exploits and victo-
ries, and stating the extraordinary marks of respect
* 6 Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 61. — There is a slight
ground-swell of glorification in the Captain's narrative, which may-
provoke a smile, — not a sneer, for it is mingled with too much real
courage and simplicity of character.
396 MARCH TO MEXICO.
they had received from Montezuma. This intelligence
seems to have had its effect ; for soon after the cacique
gave the general some curious trinkets of gold, of no
great value, indeed, but as a testimony of his good will.
He sent him, also, some female slaves to prepare bread
for the troops, and supplied the means of refreshment
and repose, more important to them, in the present
juncture, than all the gold of Mexico. 17
The Spanish general, as usual, did not neglect the
occasion to inculcate the great truths of revelation on
his host, and to display the atrocity of the Indian
superstitions. The cacique listened with civil but
cold indifference. Cortes, finding him unmoved,
turned briskly round to his soldiers, exclaiming that
now was the time to plant the Cross ! They eagerly
seconded his pious purpose, and the same scenes might
have been enacted as at Cempoalla, with perhaps very
different results, had not Father Olmedo, with better
judgment, interposed. He represented that to intro-
duce the Cross among the natives, in their present state
of ignorance and incredulity, would be to expose the
sacred symbol to desecration so soon as the backs of
the Spaniards were turned. The only way was to wait
patiently the season when more leisure should be af-
forded to instil into their minds a knowledge of the
truth. The sober reasoning of the good father pre-
vailed over the passions of the martial enthusiasts.
It was fortunate for Cortes that Olmedo was not one
*7 For the preceding pages, besides authorities cited in course, see
Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1, — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist.
Chich., MS., cap. 83, — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 44, — Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 26.
TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES.
397
of those frantic friars who would have fanned his fiery-
temper on such occasions into a blaze. It might have
had a most disastrous influence on his fortunes; for he
held all temporal consequences light in comparison
with the great work of conversion, to effect which the
unscrupulous mind of the soldier, trained to the stern
discipline of the camp, would have employed force
whenever fair means were ineffectual. 18 But Olmedo
belonged to that class of benevolent missionaries — of
whom the Roman Catholic church, to its credit, has
furnished many examples — who rely on spiritual weap-
ons for the great work, inculcating those doctrines of
love and mercy which can best touch the sensibilities
and win the affections of their rude audience. These,
indeed, are the true weapons of the Church, the weap-
ons employed in the primitive ages, by which it has
spread its peaceful banners over the farthest regions of
the globe. Such were not the means used by the con-
querors of America, who, rather adopting the policy
of the victorious Moslems in their early career, carried
with them the sword in one hand and the Bible in the
other. They imposed obedience in matters of faith,
no less than of government, on the vanquished, little
heeding whether the conversion were genuine, so that
it conformed to the outward observances of the Church.
Yet the seeds thus recklessly scattered must have per-
ished but for the missionaries of their own nation, who,
,8 The general clearly belonged to the church militant, mentioned by-
Butler :
" Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun,
And prove their doctrines orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks."
Vol. I. 34
398 MARCH TO MEXICO.
in later times, worked over the same ground, living
among the Indians as brethren, and, by long and
patient culture, enabling the germs of truth to take
root and fructify in their hearts.
The Spanish commander remained in the city four
or five days, to recruit his fatigued and famished forces ;
and the modern Indians still point out, or did, at the
close of the last century, a venerable cypress, under the
branches of which was tied the horse of the Conquis-
tador, — the Conqueror, as Cortes was styled, par ex-
cellence.^ Their route now opened on a broad and
verdant valley, watered by a noble stream, — a circum-
stance of not too frequent occurrence on the parched
table-land of New Spain. The soil was well protected
by woods, — a thing still rarer at the present day ; since
the invaders, soon after the Conquest, swept away the
magnificent growth of timber, rivalling that of our
Southern and Western States in variety and beauty,
which covered the plateau under the Aztecs. 20
All along the river, on both sides of it, an unbroken
line of Indian dwellings, "so near as almost to touch
one another," extended for three or four leagues;
arguing a population much denser than at present. 21
'9 " Arbol grande, dicho ahuehuete." (Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. iii.)
The cuprcssus disticha of Linnreus. See Humboldt, Essai politique,
torn. ii. p. 54, note.
20 It is the same taste which has made the Castiles, the table-land of
the Peninsula, so naked of wood. Prudential reasons, as well as taste,
however, seem to have operated in New Spain. A friend of mine on
a visit to a noble hacienda, but uncommonly barren of trees, was in-
formed by the proprietor that they were cut down to prevent the lazy
Indians on the plantation from wasting their time by loitering in their
shade !
21 It confirms the observations of M. de Humboldt. " Sans doute
TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES.
399
On a rough and rising ground stood a town that might
contain five or six thousand inhabitants, commanded
by a fortress, which, with its walls and trenches, seemed
to the Spaniards quite "ona level with similar works
in Europe." Here the troops again halted, and met
with friendly treatment. 22
Cortes now determined his future line of march. At
the last place he had been counselled by the natives to
take the route of the ancient city of Cholula, the in-
habitants of which, subjects of Montezuma, were a mild
race, devoted to mechanical and other peaceful arts,
and would be likely to entertain him kindly. Their
Cempoallan allies, however, advised the Spaniards not
to trust the Cholulans, "a false and perfidious people,"
but to take the road to Tlascala, that valiant little re-
public which had so long maintained its independence
against the arms of Mexico. The people were frank as
they were fearless, and fair in their dealings. They
had always been on terms of amity with the Totonacs,
which afforded a strong guarantee for their amicable
disposition on the present occasion.
lors de la premiere arrivee des Espagnols, toute cette cote, depuis la
riviere de Papaloapan (Alvarado) jusqu'a Huaxtecapan, etait plus
habitee et mieux cultivee qu'elle ne Test aujourd'hui. Cependant a
mesure que les conquerans monterent au plateau, ils trouverent les
villages plus rapproches les uns des autres, les champs divises en por-
tions plus petites, le peuple plus police." Humboldt, Essai politique,
torn. ii. p. 202.
22 The correct Indian name of the town, Yxtacamaxtitlan , Yztac-
mastitan of Cortes, will hardly be recognized in the Xalacingo cf Diaz.
The town was removed, in 1601, from' the top of the hill to the plain.
On the original site are still visible remains of carved stones of large
dimensions, attesting the elegance of the ancient fortress or palace of
the cacique. Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. v.
4oo
MARCH TO MEXICO.
The arguments of his Indian allies prevailed with the
Spanish commander, who resolved to propitiate the
good will of the Tlascalans by an embassy. He se-
lected four of the principal Cempoallans for this, and
sent by them a martial gift, — a cap of crimson cloth,
together with a sword and a cross-bow, weapons which,
it was observed, excited general admiration among the
natives. He added a letter, in which he asked per-
mission to pass through their country. He expressed
his admiration of the valor of the Tlascalans, and of
their long resistance to the Aztecs, whose proud empire
he designed to humble. 23 It was not to be expected
that this epistle, indited in good Castilian, would be
very intelligible to the Tlascalans. But Cortes com-
municated its import to the ambassadors. Its myste-
rious characters might impress the natives with an idea
of superior intelligence, and the letter serve instead of
those hieroglyphical missives which formed the usual
credentials of an Indian ambassador. 24
The Spaniards remained three days in this hos-
pitable place, after the departure of the envoys, when
they resumed their progress. Although in a friendly
country, they marched always as if in a land of ene-
mies, the horse and light troops in the van, with the
heavy-armed and baggage in the rear, all in battle-
array. They were never without their armor, waking
or sleeping, lying down with their weapons by their
sides. This unintermitting and restless vigilance was,
33 " Estas cosas y otras de gran persuasion contenia la carta, pero
como no sabian leer no pudieron entender lo que contenia." Camargo,
Hist, de Tlascala, MS.
*4 For an account of the diplomatic usages of the people of Ana-
huac, see ante, p. 45.
EMBASSY TO TLASCALA.
401
perhaps, more oppressive to the spirits than even bodily-
fatigue. But they were confident in their superiority in
a fair field, and felt that the most serious danger they
had to fear from Indian warfare was surprise. " We are
few against many, brave companions," Cortes would
say to them; "be prepared, then, not as if you were
going to battle, but as if actually in the midst of it!" 25
The road taken by the Spaniards was the same which
at present leads to Tlascala ; not that, however, usually
followed in passing from Vera Cruz to the capital, which
makes a circuit considerably to the south, towards Pue-
bla, in the neighborhood of the ancient Cholula. They
more than once forded the stream that rolls through
this beautiful plain, lingering several days on the way,
in hopes of receiving an answer from the Indian re-
public. The unexpected delay of the messengers could
not be explained, and occasioned some uneasiness.
As they advanced into a country of rougher and
bolder features, their progress was suddenly arrested
by a remarkable fortification. It was a stone wall nine
feet in height, and twenty in thickness, with a parapet,
a foot and a half broad, raised on the summit for the
protection of those who defended it. It had only one
opening, in the centre, made by two semicircular lines
of wall overlapping each other for the space of forty
paces, and affording a passage-way between, ten paces
wide, so contrived, therefore, as to be perfectly com-
manded by the inner wall. This fortification, which
2 5 " Mira, senores companeros, ya veis que somos pocos, hemos de
estar siempre tan apercebidos, y aparejados, como si aora viessemos
venir los contrarios d pelear, y no solamente vellos venir, sino hazer
cuenta que estamos ya en la batalla con ellos." Bernal Diaz, Hist,
de la Conquista, cap. 62.
' 34*
402
MARCH TO MEXICO.
extended more than two leagues, rested at either end
on the bold natural buttresses formed by the sierra.
The work was built of immense blocks of stones nicely
laid together without cement ; a6 and the remains still
existing, among which are rocks of the whole breadth
of the rampart, fully attest its solidity and size. 27
This singular structure marked the limits of Tlas-
cala, and was intended, as the natives told the Span-
iards, as a barrier against the Mexican invasions. The
army paused, filled with amazement at the contempla-
tion of this Cyclopean monument, which naturally
suggested reflections on the strength and resources of
the people who had raised it. It caused them, too,
some painful solicitude as to the probable result of
their mission to Tlascala, and their own consequent
reception there. But they were too sanguine to allow
such uncomfortable surmises long to dwell in their
minds. Cortes put himself at the head of his cavalry,
and, calling out, " Forward, soldiers, the Holy Cross
is our banner, and under that we shall conquer," led
his little army through the undefended passage, and in
a few moments they trod the soil of the free republic
of Tlascala. 28
26 According to the writer last cited, the stones were held by a
cement so hard that the men could scarcely break it with their pikes.
(Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 62.) But the contrary statement, in the
general's letter, is confirmed by the present appearance of the wall.
Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. vii.
27 Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. vii. — The attempts of the Archbishop to
identify the route of Cortes have been very successful. It is a pity
that his map illustrating the itinerary should be so worthless.
28 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 44, 45.
— Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. — Herrera, Hist, general,
dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 3. — Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 2.
— Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1.
CHAPTER II.
REPUBLIC OF TLASCALA. — ITS INSTITUTIONS. — EARLY
HISTORY. DISCUSSIONS IN THE SENATE. — DESPERATE
BATTLES.
I5I9-
Before advancing further with the Spaniards into
the territory of Tlascala, it will be well to notice some
traits in the character and institutions of the nation,
in many respects the most remarkable in Anahuac.
The Tlascalans belonged to the same great family with
the Aztecs. 1 They came on the grand plateau about
the same time with the kindred races, at the close of
the twelfth century, and planted themselves on the
western borders of the lake of Tezcuco. Here they
remained many years, engaged in the usual pursuits
of a bold and partially civilized people. From some
cause or other, perhaps their turbulent temper, they
incurred the enmity of surrounding tribes. A coali-
tion was formed against them ; and a bloody battle
was fought on the plains of Poyauhtlan, in which the
Tlascalans were completely victorious.
1 The Indian chronicler, Camargo, considers his nation a branch
of the Chichimec. (Hist, de Tlascala, MS.) So, also, Torquemada.
(Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 9.) Clavigero, who has carefully investi-
gated the antiquities of Anahuac, calls it one of the seven Nahuatlac
tribes. (Stor. del Messico, torn. i. p. 153, nota.) The fact is not of
great moment, since they were all cognate races, speaking the same
tongue, and, probably, migrated from their country in the far North
at nearly the same time.
(403)
404
MARCH TO MEXICO.
Disgusted, however, with their residence among
nations with whom they found so little favor, the con-
quering people resolved to migrate. They separated
into three divisions, the largest of which, taking a
southern course by the great volcan of Mexico, wound
round the ancient city of Cholula, and finally settled
in the district of country overshadowed by the sierra
of Tlascala. The warm and fruitful valleys, locked up
in the embraces of this rugged brotherhood of moun-
tains, afforded means of subsistence for an agricultural
people, while the bold eminences of the sierra pre-
sented secure positions for their towns.
After the lapse of years, the institutions of the nation
underwent an important change. The monarchy was
divided first into two, afterwards into four separate states,
bound together by a sort of federal compact, probably
not very nicely defined. Each state, however, had its
lord or supreme chief, independent in his own terri-
tories, and possessed of co-ordinate authority with the
others in all matters concerning the whole republic.
The affairs of government, especially all those relating
to peace and war, were settled in a senate or council,
consisting of the four lords with their inferior nobles.
The lower dignitaries held of the superior, each in
his own district, by a kind of feudal tenure, being
bound to supply his table and enable him to maintain
his state in peace, as well as to serve him in war. 2 In
2 The descendants of these petty nobles attached as great value to
their pedigrees as any Biscayan or Asturian in Old Spain. Long after
the Conquest, they refused, however needy, to dishonor their birth by
resorting to mechanical or other plebeian occupations, qficios viles y
bajos. " Los descendientes de estos son estimados por hombres califi-
cados, que aunque sean pobrisimos no usan oficios mecanicos ni
REPUBLIC OF TLASCALA.
405
return, he experienced the aid and protection of his
suzerain. The same mutual obligations existed between
him and the followers among whom his own territories
were distributed. 3 Thus a chain of feudal dependen-
cies was established, which, if not contrived with all
the art and legal refinements of analogous institutions
in the Old World, displayed their most prominent char-
acteristics in its personal relations, the obligations of
military service on the one hand, and protection on
the other. This form of government, so different from
that of the surrounding nations, subsisted till the arrival
of the Spaniards. And it is certainly evidence of con-
siderable civilization that so complex a polity should
have so long continued, undisturbed by violence or
faction in the confederate states, and should have been
found competent to protect the people in their rights,
and the country from foreign invasion.
The lowest order of the people, however, do not
seem to have enjoyed higher immunities than under
the monarchical governments ; and their rank was
tratos bajos ni viles, ni jamas se permiten cargar ni cabar con coas y
azadones, diciendo que son hijos Idalgos en que no han de aplicarse
& estas cosas soeces y bajas, sino servir en guerras y fronteras, como
Idalgos, y morir como hombres peleando." Camargo, Hist, de
Tlascala, MS.
3 " Cualquier Tecuhtli que formaba un Tecalli, que es casa de
Mayorazgo, todas aquellas tierras que le caian en suerte de reparti-
miento, con montes, fuentes, rios, 6 lagunas tomase para la casa prin-
cipal la mayor y mejor suerte 6 pagos de tierra, y luego las demas que
qucdaban se partian por sus soldados amigos y parientes, igualmente,
y todos estos estan obligados A reconocer la casa mayor y acudir a
ella, i. alzarla y repararla, y a ser continuos en reconocer d ella de
aves, caza, flores, y ramos para el sustento de la casa del Mayorazgo,
y el que lo es estd obligado A sustentarlos y d regalarlos como amigos
de aquella casa y parientes de ella." Ibid., MS.
406 MARCH TO MEXICO.
carefully defined by an appropriate dress, and by their
exclusion from the insignia of the aristocratic orders. 4
The nation, agricultural in its habits, reserved its
highest honors, like most other rude — unhappily, also,
civilized — nations, for military prowess. Public games
were instituted, and prizes decreed to those who ex-
celled in such manly and athletic exercises as might
train them for the fatigues of war. Triumphs were
granted to the victorious general, who entered the city,
leading his spoils and captives in long procession, while
his achievements were commemorated in national songs,
and his effigy, whether in wood or stone, was erected
in the temples. It was truly in the martial spirit of
republican Rome. 3
An institution not unlike knighthood was introduced,
very similar to one existing also among the Aztecs.
The aspirant to the honors of this barbaric chivalry
watched his arms and fasted fifty or sixty days in the
temple, then listened to a grave discourse on the duties
of his new profession. Various whimsical ceremonies
followed, when his arms were restored to him ; he was
led in solemn procession through the public streets,
and the inauguration was concluded by banquets and
public rejoicings. The new knight was distinguished
henceforth by certain peculiar privileges, as well as by
a badge intimating his rank. It is worthy of remark
4 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.
5 " Los grandes recibimientos que hacian & los capitanes que venian
y alcanzaban victoria en las guerras, las fiestas y solenidades con que
se solenizaban & manera de triunfo, que los metian en andas en su
puebla, trayendo consigo & los vencidos ; y por eternizar sus hazanas
se las cantaban publicamente, y ansi quedaban memoradas y con
estatuas que les ponian en los templos." Ibid., MS.
ITS INSTITUTIONS. 407
that this honor was not reserved exclusively for military
merit, but was the recompense, also, of public services
of other kinds, as wisdom in council, or sagacity and
success in trade. For trade was held in as high
estimation by the Tlascalans as by the other people
of Anahuac. 6
The temperate climate of the table-land furnished
the ready means for distant traffic. The fruitfulness
of the soil was indicated by the name of the country,
— Tlascala signifying the "land of bread." Its wide
plains, to the slopes of its rocky hills, waved with
yellow harvests of maize, and with the bountiful
maguey, a plant which, as we have seen, supplied the
materials for some important fabrics. With these, as
well as the products of agricultural industry, the mer-
chant found his way down the sides of the Cordilleras,
wandered over the sunny regions at their base, and
brought back the luxuries which nature had denied to
his own. 7
The various arts of civilization kept pace Avith in-
creasing wealth and public prosperity ; at least, these
arts were cultivated to the same limited extent, appar-
ently, as among the other people of Anahuac. The
Tlascalan tongue, says the national historian, simple as
beseemed that of a mountain region, was rough com-
pared with the polished Tezcucan or the popular Aztec
6 For the whole ceremony of inauguration, — though, as it seems,
having especial reference to the merchant-knights, — see Appendix,
Part 2, No. 9, where the original is given from Camargo.
7 " Ha bel paese," says the Anonymous Conqueror, speaking of
Tlascala at the time of the invasion, " di pianure et motagne, et k
provincia popolosa et vi si raccoglie molto pane." Rel. d'un gentil"
huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. p. 308.
4 o8 MARCH TO MEXICO.
dialect, and, therefore, not so well fitted for composi-
tion. But the Tlascalans made like proficiency with
the kindred nations in the rudiments of science.
Their calendar was formed on the same plan. Their
religion, their architecture, many of their laws and
social usages, were the same, arguing a common origin
for all. Their tutelary deity was the same ferocious
war-god as that of the Aztecs, though with a different
name ; their temples, in like manner, were drenched
with the blood of human victims, and their boards
groaned with the same cannibal repasts. 8
Though not ambitious of foreign conquest, the pros-
perity of the Tlascalans, in time, excited the jealousy
of their neighbors, and especially of the opulent state
of Cholula. Frequent hostilities arose between them,
in which the advantage was almost always on the side
of the former. A still more formidable foe appeared
in later days in the Aztecs, who could ill brook the
independence of Tlascala when the surrounding nations
had acknowledged, one after another, their influence or
their empire. Under the ambitious Axayacatl, they
demanded of the Tlascalans the same tribute and obe-
dience rendered by other people of the country. If
it were refused, the Aztecs would raze their cities
to their foundations, and deliver the land to their
enemies.
To this imperious summons, the little republic
proudly replied, " Neither they nor their ancestors
8 A full account of the manners, customs, and domestic policy of
Tlascala is given by the national historian, throwing much light on
the other states of Anahuac, whose social institutions seem to have
been all cast in the same mould.
EARL Y HISTOR Y.
409
had ever paid tribute or homage to a foreign power,
and never would pay it. If their country was invaded,
they knew how to defend it, and would pour out their
blood as freely in defence of their freedom now as
their fathers did of yore, when they routed the Aztecs
on the plains of Poyauhtlan ! " 9
This resolute answer brought on them the forces of
the monarchy. A pitched battle followed, and the
sturdy republicans were victorious. From this period,
hostilities between the two nations continued with more
or less activity, but with unsparing ferocity. Every
captive was mercilessly sacrificed. The children were
trained from the cradle to deadly hatred against the
Mexicans ; and, even in the brief intervals of war,
none of those intermarriages took place between the
people of the respective countries, which knit together
in social bonds most of the other kindred races of
Anahuac.
In this struggle the Tlascalans received an important
support in the accession of the Othomis, or Otomies, —
as usually spelt by Castilian writers, — a wild and war-
like race originally spread over the table-land north of
the Mexican Valley. A portion of them obtained a
settlement in the republic, and were speedily incor-
porated in its armies. Their courage and fidelity to
the nation of their adoption showed them worthy of
trust, and the frontier places were consigned to their
keeping. The mountain barriers by which Tlascala
is encompassed afforded many strong natural positions
for defence against invasion. The country was open
9 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind.,
lib. 2, cap. 70.
Vol. I.-S 35
4 i o MARCH TO MEXICO.
towards the east, where a valley, of some six miles in
breadth, invited the approach of an enemy. But here
it was that the jealous Tlascalans erected the formi-
dable rampart which had excited the admiration of the
Spaniards, and which they manned with a garrison
of Otomies.
Efforts for their subjugation were renewed on a
greater scale after the accession of Montezuma. His
victorious arms had spread down the declivities of the
Andes to the distant provinces of Vera Paz and Nica-
ragua, 10 and his haughty spirit was chafed by the oppo-
sition of a petty state whose territorial extent did not
exceed ten leagues in breadth by fifteen in length."
He sent an army against them under the command of
a favorite son. His troops were beaten, and his son
was slain. The enraged and mortified monarch was
roused to still greater preparations. He enlisted the
forces of the cities bordering on his enemy, together
with those of the empire, and with this formidable
army swept over the devoted valleys of Tlascala. But
the bold mountaineers withdrew into the recesses of
their hills, and, coolly awaiting their opportunity,
rushed like a torrent on the invaders, and drove them
back, with dreadful slaughter, from their territories.
Still, notwithstanding the advantages gained over
the enemy in the field, the Tlascalans were sorely
10 Camargo (Hist, de Tlascala, MS.) notices the extent of Monte-
zuma's conquests, — a debatable ground for the historian.
11 Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 16. — Solfs says, "The
Tlascalan territory was fifty leagues in circumference, ten long, from
east to west, and four broad, from north to south." (Conquista de
Mejico, lib, 3, cap. 3.) It must have made a curious figure in
geometry !
EARL Y HISTOR Y.
411
pressed by their long hostilities with a foe so far supe-
rior to themselves in numbers and resources. The
Aztec armies lay between them and the coast, cutting
off all communication with that prolific region, and
thus limited their supplies to the products of their own
soil and manufacture. For more than half a century
they had neither cotton, nor cacao, nor salt. Indeed,
their taste had been so far affected by long abstinence
from these articles that it required the lapse of several
generations after the Conquest to reconcile them to the
use of salt at their meals." During the short intervals
of war, it is said, the Aztec nobles, in the true spirit
of chivalry, sent supplies of these commodities as pres-
ents, with many courteous expressions of respect, to
the Tlascalan chiefs. This intercourse, we are as-
sured by the Indian chronicler, was unsuspected by the
people. Nor did it lead to any further correspondence,
he adds, between the parties, prejudicial to the liberties
of the republic, "which maintained its customs and
good government inviolate, and the worship of its
gods." 13
Such was the condition of Tlascala at the coming
of the Spaniards ; holding, it might seem, a precarious
existence under the shadow of the formidable power
12 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.
'3 " Los Sefiores Mejicanos y Tezcucanos en tiempo que ponian
treguas por algunas temporadas embiaban a los Sefiores de Tlaxcalla
grandes preserves y dadivas de oro, ropa, y cacao, y sal, y de todas
las cosas de que carecian, sin que la gente plebeya lo entendiese, y se
saludaban secretamente, guardandose el decoro que se debian ; mas
con todos estos trabajos la orden de su republica jamas se dejaba de
gobemar con la rectitud de sus costumbres guardando inviolablemente
el culto de sus Dioses." Ibid., MS
412 MARCH TO MEXICO.
which seemed suspended like an avalanche over her
head, but still strong in her own resources, stronger in
the indomitable temper of her people ; with a repu-
tation established throughout the land for good faith
and moderation in peace, for valor in war, while her
uncompromising spirit of independence secured the
respect even of her enemies. With such qualities of
character, and with an animosity sharpened by long,
deadly hostility with Mexico, her alliance was obviously
of the last importance to the Spaniards, in their pres-
ent enterprise. It was not easy to secure it. 14
The Tlascalans had been made acquainted with the
advance and victorious career of the Christians, the
intelligence of which had spread far and wide over the
plateau. But they do not seem to have anticipated the
approach of the strangers to their own borders. They
were now much embarrassed by the embassy demand-
ing a passage through their territories. The great
council was convened, and a considerable difference of
opinion prevailed in its members. Some, adopting the
popular superstition, supposed the Spaniards might be
the white and bearded men foretold by the oracles. 15
At all events, they were the enemies of Mexico, and as
such might co-operate with them in their struggle with
the empire. Others argued that the strangers could
have nothing in common with them. Their march
J 4 The Tlascalan chronicler discerns in this deep-rooted hatred of
Mexico the hand of Providence, who wrought out of it an important
means for subverting the Aztec empire. Hist, de Tlascala, MS.
'5 "Si bien os acordais, como tenemos de nuestra antiguedad como
han de venir gentes a la parte donde sale el sol, y que han de empa-
rentar con nosotros, y que hemos de ser todos unos ; y que han de
ser blancos y barbudos." Ibid., MS.
DISCUSSIONS IN THE SENATE.
413
throughout the land might be tracked by the broken
images of the Indian gods and desecrated temples.
How did the Tlascalans even know that they were foes
to Montezuma? They had received his embassies,
accepted his presents, and were now in the company
of his vassals on the way to his capital.
These last were the reflections of an aged chief, one
of the four who presided over the republic. His name
was Xicotencatl. He was nearly blind, having lived,
as is said, far beyond the limits of a century. 16 His
son, an impetuous young man of the same name with
himself, commanded a powerful army of Tlascalan and
Otomi warriors, near the eastern frontier. It would
be best, the old man said, to fall with this force at
once on the Spaniards. If victorious, the latter would
then be in their power. If defeated, the senate could
disown the act as that of the general, not of the re-
public. 17 The cunning counsel of the chief found favor
with his hearers, though assuredly not in the spirit of
chivalry, nor of the good faith for which his country-
men were celebrated. But with an Indian, force and
stratagem, courage and deceit, were equally admissible
in war, as they were among the barbarians of ancient
16 To the ripe age of one hundred and forty ! if we may credit Ca-
margo. Soils, who confounds this veteran with his son, has put a
flourishing harangue in the mouth of the latter, which would be a rare
gem of Indian eloquence, — were it not Castilian. Conquista, lib. 2,
cap. 16.
«7 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec.
2, lib. 6, cap. 3. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 27. — There
is sufficient contradiction, as well as obscurity, in the proceedings re-
ported of the council, which it is not easy to reconcile altogether with
subsequent events.
35*
4 i4 MARCH TO MEXICO.
Rome. 18 The Cempoallan envoys were to be detained
under pretence of assisting at a religious sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Cortes and his gallant band, as stated in
the preceding chapter, had arrived before the rocky
rampart on the eastern confines of Tlascala. From
some cause or other, it was not manned by its Otomi
garrison, and the Spaniards passed in, as we have seen,
without resistance. Cortes rode at the head of his body
of horse, and, ordering the infantry to come on at a
quick pace, went forward to reconnoitre. After ad-
vancing three or four leagues, he descried a small party
of Indians, armed with sword and buckler, in the
fashion of the country. They fled at his approach.
He made signs for them to halt, but, seeing that they
only fled the faster, he and his companions put spurs
to their horses, and soon came up with them. The
Indians, finding escape impossible, faced round, and,
instead of showing the accustomed terror of the natives
at the strange and appalling aspect of a mounted trooper,
they commenced a furious assault on the cavaliers. The
latter, however, were too strong for them, and would
have cut their enemy to pieces without much difficulty,
when a body of several thousand Indians appeared in
sight, coming briskly on to the support of their coun-
trymen.
Cortes, seeing them, despatched one of his party in
all haste, to accelerate the march of his infantry. The
Indians, after discharging their missiles, fell furiously
on the little band of Spaniards. They strove to tear
the lances from their grasp, and to drag the riders from
the horses. They brought one cavalier to the ground,
t8 " Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?"
DESPERATE BATTLES.
415
who afterwards died of his wounds, and they killed two
of the horses, cutting through their necks with their
stout broadswords — if we may believe the chronicler —
at a blow ! I9 In the narrative of these campaigns
there is sometimes but one step — and that a short one
— from history to romance. The loss of the horses, so
important and so few in number, was seriously felt by
Cortes, who could have better spared the life of the
best rider in the troop.
The struggle was a hard one. But the odds were as
overwhelming as any recorded by the Spaniards in their
own romances, where a handful of knights is arrayed
against legions of enemies. The lances of the Chris-
tians did terrible execution here also ; but they had
need of the magic lance of Astolpho, that overturned
myriads with a touch, to carry them safe through so
unequal a contest. It was with no little satisfaction,
therefore, that they beheld their comrades rapidly ad-
vancing to their support.
No sooner had the main body reached the field of
battle, than, hastily forming, they poured such a volley
from their muskets and cross-bows as staggered the
enemy. Astounded, rather than intimidated, by the
terrible report of the fire-arms, now heard for the first
time in these regions, the Indians made no further
effort to continue the fight, but drew off in good order,
leaving the road open to the Spaniards. The latter,
too well satisfied to be rid of the annoyance to care to
follow the retreating foe, again held on their way.
«9 " I les mataron dos Caballos, de dos cuchilladas, i segun algunos.
que lo vieron, cortaron & cercen de un golpe cada pescueijo, con rien-
das, i todas." Gomara, Cronica, cap. 45.
4 i 6 MARCH TO MEXICO.
Their route took them through a country sprinkled
over with Indian cottages, amidst flourishing fields of
maize and maguey, indicating an industrious and thriv-
ing peasantry. They were met here by two Tlascalan
envoys, accompanied by two of the Cempoallans. The
former, presenting themselves before the general, dis-
avowed the assault on his troops, as an unauthorized
act, and assured him of a friendly reception at their
capital. Cortes received the communication in a cour-
teous manner, affecting to place more confidence in its
good faith than he probably felt.
It was now growing late, and the Spaniards quick-
ened their march, anxious to reach a favorable ground
for encampment before nightfall. They found such a
spot on the borders of a stream that rolled sluggishly
across tne plain. A few deserted cottages stood along
the banks, and the fatigued and famished soldiers ran-
sacked them in quest of food. All they could find was
some tame animals resembling dogs. These they killed
and dressed without ceremony, and, garnishing their
unsavory repast with the fruit of the tuna, the Indian
fig, which grew wild in the neighborhood, they con-
trived to satisfy the cravings of appetite. A careful
watch was maintained by Cortes, and companies of a
hundred men each relieved each other in mounting
guard through the night. But no attack was made.
Hostilities by night were contrary to the system of
Indian tactics. 20
20 Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 50. — Camargo, Hist, de
Tlascala, MS. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 62. — Gomara,
Cronica, cap. 45. — Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3, 41.
— Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, MS., lib. 12, cap. 10.
DESPERATE BATTLES.
4*7
By break of day on the following morning, it being
the second of September, the troops were under arms.
Besides the Spaniards, the whole number of Indian
auxiliaries might now amount to three thousand ; for
Cortes had gathered recruits from the friendly places
on his route, — three hundred from the last. After
hearing mass, they resumed their march. They moved
in close array ; the general had previously admonished
the men not to lag behind, or wander from the ranks a
moment, as stragglers would be sure to be cut off by
their stealthy and vigilant enemy. The horsemen rode
three abreast, the better to give one another support ;
and Cortes instructed them in the heat of fight to keep
together, and never to charge singly. He taught them
how to carry their lances that they might not be wrested
from their hands by the Indians, who constantly at-
tempted it. For the same reason, they should avoid
giving thrusts, but aim their weapons steadily at the
faces of their foes. 21
They had not proceeded far, when they were met by
the two remaining Cempoallan envoys, who with looks
of terror informed the general that they had been
treacherously seized and confined, in order to be sacri-
ficed at an approaching festival of the Tlascalans, but
in the night had succeeded in making their escape.
They gave the unwelcome tidings, also, that a large
force of the natives was already assembled to oppose
the progress of the Spaniards.
Soon after, they came in sight of a body of Indians,
a " Que quando rompiessemos por los esquadrones, que lleuassen
las lar^as por las caras, y no parassen a dar lar^adas, porque no les
echassen mano dellas." Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 62.
4 i 8 MARCH TO MEXICO.
about a thousand, apparently, all armed, and brandish-
ing their weapons, as the Christians approached, in
token of defiance. Cortes, when he had come within
hearing, ordered the interpreters to proclaim that he
had no hostile intentions, but wished only to be al-
lowed a passage through their country, which he had
entered as a friend. This declaration he commanded
the royal notary, Godoy, to record on the spot, that,
if blood were shed, it might not be charged on the
Spaniards. This pacific proclamation was met, as
usual on such occasions, by a shower of darts, stones,
and arrows, which fell like rain on the Spaniards, rat-
tling on their stout harness, and in some instances
penetrating to the skin. Galled by the smart of their
wounds, they called on the general to lead them on,
till he sounded the well-known battle-cry, "St. Jago,
and at them!""
The Indians maintained their ground for a while
with spirit, when they retreated with precipitation, but
not in disorder. 23 The Spaniards, whose blood was
heated by the encounter, followed up their advantage
with more zeal than prudence, suffering the wily enemy
to draw them into a narrow glen or defile intersected
by a little stream of water, where the broken ground
was impracticable for artillery, as well as for the move-
ments of cavalry. Pressing forward with eagerness,
to extricate themselves from their perilous position,
to their great dismay, on turning an abrupt angle of
22 " Entonces dixo Cortes, ' Santiago, y & ellos.' " Bernal Diaz,
Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 63.
*3 " Una gentil contienda," says Gomara of this skirmish. Cr6nica,
cap. 46.
DESPERATE BATTLES. 419
the pass, they came in presence of a numerous army,
choking up the gorge of the valley, and stretching
far over the plains beyond. To the astonished eyes
of Cortes, they appeared a hundred thousand men,
while no account estimates them at less than thirty
thousand. 24
They presented a confused assemblage of helmets,
weapons, and many-colored plumes, glancing bright in
the morning sun, and mingled with banners, above
which proudly floated one that bore as a device the
heron on a rock. It was the well-known ensign of the
house of Titcala, and, as well as the white and yellow
stripes on the bodies, and the like colors on the feather-
mail of the Indians, showed that they were the warriors
of Xicotencatl. 25
As the Spaniards came in sight, the Tlascalans set
up a hideous war-cry, or rather whistle, piercing the
ear with its shrillness, and which, with the beat of their
2 4 Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 51. According to Go-
mara (Cronica, cap. 46), the enemy mustered So, 000. So, also, Ixtlil-
xochitl. (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.) Bernal Diaz says, more than
40,000. (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 63.) But Herrera (Hist, general,
dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 5) and Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 20)
reduce them to 30,000. One might as easily reckon the leaves in a
forest, as the numbers of a confused throng of barbarians. As this
was only one of several armies kept on foot by the Tlascalans, the
smallest amount is, probably, too large. The whole population of the
state, according to Clavigero, who would not be likely to underrate it,
did not exceed half a million at the time of the invasion. Stor. del
Messico, torn. i. p. 156.
2 5 " La divisa y armas de la casa y cabecera de Titcala es una garga
blanca sobre un penasco." (Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.) " El
capitan general," says Bernal Diaz, " que se dezia Xicotenga, y con
sus diuisas de bianco y Colorado, porque aquella diuisa y librea era de
aquel Xicotenga." Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 63.
420
MARCH TO MEXICO.
melancholy drums, that could be heard for half a league
or more, 26 might well have filled the stoutest heart with
dismay. This formidable host came rolling on towards
the Christians, as if to overwhelm them by their very
numbers. But the courageous band of warriors, closely
serried together and sheltered under their strong pano-
plies, received the shock unshaken, while the broken
masses of the enemy, chafing and heaving tumultuously
around them, seemed to recede only to return with
new and accumulated force.
Cortes, as usual, in the front of danger, in vain en-
deavored, at the head of the horse, to open a passage
for the infantry. Still his men, both cavalry and foot,
kept their array unbroken, offering no assailable point
to their foe. A body of the Tlascalans, however, act-
ing in concert, assaulted a soldier named Moran, one
of the best riders in the troop. They succeeded in
dragging him from his horse, which they despatched
with a thousand blows. The Spaniards, on foot, made
a desperate effort to rescue their comrade from the
hands of the enemy, — and from the horrible doom of
the captive. A fierce struggle now began over the
body of the prostrate horse. Ten of the Spaniards
were wounded, when they succeeded in retrieving the
unfortunate cavalier from his assailants, but in so dis-
astrous a plight that he died on the following day.
26 " Llaman Teponaztle ques de un trozo de madero concavado y
de una pieza rollizo y, como decimos, hueco por de dentro, que suena
algunas veces mas de media legua y con el atambor hace estrana y
suave consonancia." (Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.) Clavigero,
who gives a drawing of this same drum, says it is still used by the
Indians, and may be heard two or three miles. Stor. del Messico,
torn. ii. p. 179.
DESPERATE BATTLES.
421
The horse was borne off in triumph by the Indians,
and his mangled remains were sent, a strange trophy,
to the different towns of Tlascala. The circumstance
troubled the Spanish commander, as it divested the
animal of the supernatural terrors with which the
superstition of the natives had usually surrounded it.
To prevent such a consequence, he had caused the two
horses, killed on the preceding day, to be secretly
buried on the spot.
The enemy now began to give ground gradually,
borne down by the riders, and trampled under the
hoofs of their horses. Through the whole of this
sharp encounter the Indian allies were of great service
to the Spaniards. They rushed into the water, and
grappled their enemies, with the desperation of men
who felt that " their only safety was in the despair of
safety. " "> "I see nothing but death for us, ' ' exclaimed
a Cempoallan chief to Marina; "we shall never get
through the pass alive." " The God of the Christians
is with us," answered the intrepid woman; "and He
will carry us safely through. ' ' 28
Amidst the din of battle, the voice of Cortes was
heard, cheering on his soldiers. "If we fail now,"
he cried, "the Cross of Christ can never be planted
in the land. Forward, comrades ! When was it ever
known that a Castilian turned his back on a foe ?' ' **
=7 "Una illis fuit spes salutis, desperasse de salute." (P. Martyr,
De Orbe Novo, dec. 1, cap. 1.) It is said with the classic energy of
Tacitus.
a8 " Respondiole Marina, que no tuviese miedo, porque el Dios de
los Christianos, que es muy poderoso, i los queria mucho, los sacaria
de peligro." Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 5.
=9 Ibid., ubi supia.
Vol. I. 36
422 MARCH TO MEXICO.
Animated by the words and heroic bearing of their
general, the soldiers, with desperate efforts, at length
succeeded in forcing a passage through the dark col-
umns of the enemy, and emerged from the defile on
the open plain beyond.
Here they quickly recovered their confidence with
their superiority. The horse soon opened a space for
the manoeuvres of the artillery. The close files of
their antagonists presented a sure mark ; and the thun-
ders of the ordnance vomiting forth torrents of fire
and sulphurous smoke, the wide desolation caused in
their ranks, and the strangely mangled carcasses of
the slain, filled the barbarians with consternation and
horror. They had no weapons to cope with these
terrible engines, and their clumsy missiles, discharged
from uncertain hands, seemed to fall ineffectual on the
charmed heads of the Christians. What added to
their embarrassment was, the desire to carry off the
dead and wounded from the field, a general practice
among the people of Anahuac, but one which neces-
sarily exposed them, while thus employed, to still
greater loss.
Eight of their principal chiefs had now fallen, and
Xicotencatl, finding himself wholly unable to make
head against the Spaniards in the open field, ordered
a retreat. Far from the confusion of a panic-struck
mob, so common among barbarians, the Tlascalan
force moved off the ground with all the order of a
well-disciplined army. Cortes, as on the preceding
day, was too well satisfied with his present advantage
to desire to follow it up. It was within an hour of
sunset, and he was anxious before nightfall to secure a
DESPERATE BATTLES.
423
good position, where he might refresh his wounded
troops and bivouac for the night. 30
Gathering up his wounded, he held on his way,
without loss of time, and before dusk reached a rocky
eminence, called Tzompachtepetl, or " the hill of Tzom-
pach,*' It was crowned by a sort of tower or temple,
the remains of which are still visible. 31 His first
care was given to the wounded, both men and horses.
Fortunately, an abundance of provisions was found in
some neighboring cottages; and the soldiers, at least
all who were not disabled by their injuries, celebrated
the victory of the day with feasting and rejoicing.
As to the number of killed or wounded on either
side, it is matter of loosest conjecture. The Indians
must have suffered severely, but the practice of carrying
off the dead from the field made it impossible to know
to what extent. The injury sustained by the Span-
iards appears to have been principally in the number
of their wounded. The great object of the natives
of Anahuac in their battles was to make prisoners,
who might grace their triumphs and supply victims
for sacrifice. To this brutal superstition the Christians
were indebted, in no slight degree, for their personal
preservation. To take the reports of the Conquerors,
their own losses in action were always inconsiderable.
But whoever has had occasion to consult the ancient
chroniclers of Spain in relation to its wars with the
3° Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3, 45. — Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. — Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p.
51. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 63. — Gomara, Cronica,
cap. 40.
3 1 Viaje de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. ix.
424 MARCH TO MEXICO.
infidel, whether Arab or American, will place little
confidence in numbers. 32
The events of the day had suggested many topics
for painful reflection to Cortes. He had nowhere met
with so determined a resistance within the borders of
Anahuac; nowhere had he encountered native troops
so formidable for their weapons, their discipline, and
their valor. Far from manifesting the superstitious
terrors felt by the other Indians at the strange arms
and aspect of the Spaniards, the Tlascalans had boldly
grappled with their enemy, and only yielded to the
inevitable superiority of his military science. How
important would the alliance of such a nation be in a
struggle with those of their own race, — for example,
with the Aztecs ! But how was he to secure this
alliance? Hitherto, all overtures had been rejected
with disdain ; and it seemed probable that every step
of his progress in this populous land was to be fiercely
contested. His army, especially the Indians, cele-
brated the events of the day with feasting and dancing,
songs of merriment, and shouts of triumph. Cortes
encouraged it, well knowing how important it was to
keep up the spirits of his soldiers. But the sounds of
32 According to Cortes, not a Spaniard fell — though many were
wounded — in this action so fatal to the infidel ! Diaz allows one. In
the famous battle of Navas de Tolosa, between the Spaniards and
Arabs, in 1212, equally matched in military science at that time, there
were left 200,000 of the latter on the field ; and, to balance this bloody
roll, only five-and-twenty Christians! See the estimate in Alfonso
IX.'s veracious letter, ap. Mariana (Hist, de Espana, lib. 2, cap. 24).
The official returns of the old Castilian crusaders, whether in the Old
World or the New, are scarcely more trustworthy than a French
imperial bulletin in our day.
DESPERATE BATTLES.
425
revelry at length died away ; and, in the still watches
of the night, many an anxious thought must have
crowded on the mind of the general, while his little
army lay buried in slumber in its encampment around
the Indian hill.
36 J
CHAPTER III.
DECISIVE VICTORY. INDIAN COUNCIL. — NIGHT-ATTACK.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE ENEMY. TLASCALAN
HERO.
The Spaniards were allowed to repose undisturbed
the following day, and to recruit their strength after
the fatigue and hard fighting of the preceding. They
found sufficient employment, however, in repairing
and cleaning their weapons, replenishing their dimin-
ished stock of arrows, and getting everything in order
for further hostilities, should the severe lesson they had
inflicted on the enemy prove insufficient to discourage
him. On the second day, as Cortes received no over-
tures from the Tlascalans, he determined to send an
embassy to their camp, proposing a cessation of hos-
tilities, and expressing his intention to visit their cap-
ital as a friend. He selected two of the principal
chiefs taken in the late engagement, as the bearers of
the message.
Meanwhile, averse to leaving his men longer in a
dangerous state of inaction, which the enemy might
interpret as the result of timidity or exhaustion, he
put himself at the head of the cavalry and such light
troops as were most fit for service, and made a foray
into the neighboring country. It was a mountainous
region, formed by a ramification of the great sierra of
(426)
DECISIVE VICTORY.
427
Tlascala, with verdant slopes and valleys teeming with
maize and plantations of maguey, while the eminences
were crowned with populous towns and villages. In
one of these, he -tells us, he found three thousand
dwellings. 1 In some places he met with a resolute
resistance, and on these occasions took ample ven-
geance by laying the country waste with fire and sword.
After a successful inroad he returned laden with forage
and provisions and driving before him several hundred
Indian captives. He treated them kindly, however,
when arrived in camp, endeavoring to make them un-
derstand that these acts of violence were not dictated
by his own wishes, but by the unfriendly policy of
their countrymen. In this way he hoped to impress
the nation with the conviction of his power on the
one hand, and of his amicable intentions, if met by
them in the like spirit, on the other.
On reaching his quarters, he found the two envoys
returned from the Tlascalan camp. They had fallen
in with Xicotencatl at about two leagues' distance,
where he lay encamped with a powerful force. The
cacique gave them audience at the head of his troops.
He told them to return with the answer, " that the
Spaniards might pass on as soon as they chose to Tlas-
cala ; and, when they reached it, their flesh would be
hewn from their bodies, for sacrifice to the gods ! If
1 Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52. — Oviedo, who made
free use of the manuscripts of Cortes, writes thirty-nine houses.
(Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.) This may perhaps be ex-
plained by the sign for a thousand, in Spanish notation, bearing great
resemblance to the figure 9. Martyr, who had access, also, to the
Conqueror's manuscript, confirms the larger and, a priori, less probable
number.
428 MARCH TO MEXICO.
they preferred to remain in their own quarters, he
would pay them a visit there the next day. ' ' 2 The
ambassadors added that the chief had an immense
force with him, consisting of five battalions of ten
thousand men each. They were the flower of the
Tlascalan and Otomi warriors, assembled under the
banners of their respective leaders, by command of the
senate, who were resolved to try the fortunes of the
state in a pitched battle and strike one decisive blow
for the extermination of the invaders. 3
This bold defiance fell heavily on the ears of the
Spaniards, not prepared for so pertinacious a spirit in
their enemy. They had had ample proof of his courage
and formidable prowess. They were now, in their
crippled condition, to encounter him with a still more
terrible array of numbers. The war, too, from the
horrible fate with which it menaced the vanquished,
wore a peculiarly gloomy aspect, that pressed heavily
on their spirits. "We feared death," says the lion-
hearted Diaz, with his usual simplicity, " for we were
men. ' ' There was scarcely one in the army that did
not confess himself that night to the reverend Father
Olmedo, who was occupied nearly the whole of it with
2 " Que fuessemos a su pueblo adonde esta su padre, q alia harian
las pazes co hartarse de nuestras carries, y honrar sus dioses con nues-
tros coracones, y sangre, e que para otro dia de manana veriamos su
respuesta." Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 64.
3 More than one writer repeats a story of the Tlascalan general's
sending a good supply of provisions, at this time, to the famished army
of the Spaniards ; to put them in stomach, it may be, for the fight.
(Gomara, Cronica, cap. 46. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.)
This ultra-chivalrous display from the barbarian is not very probable,
and Cortes' own account of his successful foray may much better
explain the abundance which reigned in his camp.
DECISIVE VICTORY.
429
administering absolution, and with the other solemn
offices of the Church. Armed with the blessed sacra-
ments, the Catholic soldier lay tranquilly down to rest,
prepared for any fate that might betide him under the
banner of the Cross. 4
As a battle was now inevitable, Cortes resolved to
march out and meet the enemy in the field. This
would have a show of confidence that might serve
the double purpose of intimidating the Tlascalans and
inspiriting his own men, whose enthusiasm might lose
somewhat of its heat if compelled to await the assault
of their antagonists, inactive in their own intrench-
ments. The sun rose bright on the following morning,
the fifth of September, 15 19, an eventful day in the
history of the Spanish Conquest. The general re-
viewed his army, and gave them, preparatory to march-
ing, a few words of encouragement and advice. The
infantry he instructed to rely on the point rather than
the edge of their swords, and to endeavor to thrust
their opponents through the body. The horsemen
were to charge at half speed, with their lances aimed
at the eyes of the Indians. The artillery, the arque-
busiers, and crossbowmen were to support one another,
some loading while others discharged their pieces, that
there should be an unintermitted firing kept up through
the action. Above all, they were to maintain their
ranks close and unbroken, as on this depended their
preservation.
4 Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist.
Chich., MS., cap. 83. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 46, 47. — Oviedo, Hist
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 64.
43°
MARCH TO MEXICO.
They had not advanced a quarter of a league, when
they came in sight of the Tlascalan army. Its dense
array stretched far and wide over a vast plain or
meadow-ground about six miles square. Its appear-
ance justified the report which had been given of its
numbers. 5 Nothing could be more picturesque than
the aspect of these Indian battalions, with the naked
bodies of the common soldiers gaudily painted, the
fantastic helmets of the chiefs glittering with gold and
precious stones, and the glowing panoplies of feather-
work which decorated their persons. 6 Innumerable
spears and darts, tipped with points of transparent itztli
or fiery copper, sparkled bright in the morning sun,
like the phosphoric gleams playing on the surface of a
troubled sea, while the rear of the mighty host was
dark with the shadows of banners, on which were
emblazoned the armorial bearings of the great Tlas-
5 Through the magnifying lens of Cortes, there appeared to be
150,000 men(Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 52); a number usually
preferred by succeeding writers.
" Not half so gorgeous, for their May-day mirth
All wreathed and ribanded, our youths and maids,
As these stern Tlascalans in war attire !
The golden glitterance, and the feather-mail
More gay than glittering gold ; and round the helm
A coronal of high upstanding plumes,
Green as the spring grass in a sunny shower ;
Or scarlet bright, as in the wintry wood
The clustered holly ; or of purple tint ;
Whereto shall that be likened? to what gem
Indiademed, what flower, what insect's wing?
With war-songs and wild music they came on ;
We, the while kneeling, raised with one accord
The hymn of supplication."
Southey's Madoc, Part x, canto 7.
DECISIVE VICTORY.
43*
calan and Otomi chieftains. 7 Among these, the white
heron on the rock, the cognizance of the house of
Xicotencatl, was conspicuous, and, still more, the
golden eagle with outspread wings, in the fashion of a
Roman signum, richly ornamented with emeralds and
silver-work, the great standard of the republic of
Tlascala. 8
The common file wore no covering except a girdle
round the loins. Their bodies were painted with the
appropriate colors of the chieftain whose banner they
followed. The feather-mail of the higher class of war-
riors exhibited, also, a similar selection of colors for
the like object, in the same manner as the color of the
tartan indicates the peculiar clan of the Highlander. 9
t The standards of the Mexicans were carried in the centre, those
of the Tlascalans in the rear of the army. (Clavigero, Stor. del
Messico, vol. ii. p. 145.) According to the Anonymous Conqueror,
the banner-staff was attached to the back of the ensign, so that it was
impossible to be torn away. " Ha ogni copagnia il suo Alfiere con la
sua insegna inhastata, et in tal modo ligata sopra le spalle, che non
gli da alcun disturbo di poter combattere ne far cio che vuole, et la
porta cosi ligata bene al corpo, che se no fanno del suo corpo pezzi,
non se gli puo sligare, ne torgliela mai." Rel. d'un gentil' huomo.
ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 305.
8 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2,
lib. 6, cap. 6. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 46. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la
Conquista, cap. 64. — Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 45.
— The last two authors speak of the device of " a white bird like
an ostrich," as that of the republic. They have evidently confounded
it with that of the Indian general. Camargo, who has given the
heraldic emblems of the four great families of Tlascala, notices the
white heron as that of Xicotencatl.
9 The accounts of the Tlascalan chronicler are confirmed by the
Anonymous Conqueror and by Bernal Diaz, both eyewitnesses ;
though the latter frankly declares that had he not seen them with his
own eyes he should never have credited the existence of orders and
432 MARCH TO MEXICO.
The caciques and principal warriors were clothed in
quilted cotton tunics, two inches thick, which, fitting
close to the body, protected also the thighs and the
shoulders. Over these the wealthier Indians wore cui-
rasses of thin gold plate, or silver. Their legs were
defended by leathern boots or sandals, trimmed with
gold. But the most brilliant part of their costume was
a rich mantle of the plumaje or feather-work, em-
broidered with curious art, and furnishing some resem-
blance to the gorgeous surcoat worn by the European
knight over his armor in the Middle Ages. This
graceful and picturesque dress was surmounted by a
fantastic head-piece made of wood or leather, repre-
senting the head of some wild animal, and frequently
displaying a formidable array of teeth. With this cov-
ering the warrior's head was enveloped, producing a
most grotesque and hideous effect. 10 From the crown
floated a splendid panache of the richly variegated
plumage of the tropics, indicating, by its form and
colors, the rank and family of the wearer. To com-
plete their defensive armor, they carried shields or
targets, made sometimes of wood covered with leather,
but more usually of a light frame of reeds quilted with
cotton, which were preferred, as tougher and less liable
badges among the barbarians, like those found among the civilized
nations of Europe. Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 64, et alibi. — Camargo,
Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn,
iii. fol. 305.
10 •• Portano in testa," says the Anonymous Conqueror, "per difesa
una cosa come teste di serpeti, 6 di tigri, 6 di leoni, 6 di lupi, che ha
le mascelle, et e la testa dell' huomo messa nella testa di qsto animale
come se lo volesse diuorare: sono di legno, et sopra vi e la pena, et di
piastra d'oro et di pietre preciose copte, che e cosa marauigliosa da
vedere." Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 305.
DECISIVE VICTORY.
433
to fracture than the former. They had other bucklers,
in which the cotton was covered with an elastic sub-
stance, enabling them to be shut up in a more com-
pact form, like a fan or umbrella. These shields were
decorated with showy ornaments, according to the
taste or wealth of the wearer, and fringed with a
beautiful pendant of feather-work.
Their weapons were slings, bows and arrows, jave-
lins, and darts. They were accomplished archers,
and would discharge two or even three arrows at a
time. But they most excelled in throwing the javelin.
One species of this, with a thong attached to it, which
remained in the slinger's hand, that he might recall
the weapon, was especially dreaded by the Spaniards.
These various weapons were pointed with bone, or the
mineral itztli (obsidian), the hard vitreous substance
already noticed as capable of taking an edge like a
razor, though easily blunted. Their spears and arrows
were also frequently headed with copper. Instead of
a sword, they bore a two-handed staff, about three feet
and a half long, in which, at regular distances, were
inserted, transversely, sharp blades of itztli, — a formi-
dable weapon, which, an eyewitness assures us, he had
seen fell a horse at a blow."
Such was the costume of the Tlascalan warrior, and,
indeed, of that great family of nations generally who
occupied the plateau of Anahuac. Some parts of it, as
11 " I saw one day an Indian make a thrust at the horse ot a cava-
lier with whom he was fighting, which pierced its breast, and pene-
trated so deep that it immediately fell dead ; and the same day I saw
another Indian cut the neck of a horse, which fell dead at his feet."
Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 305.
VOL. I.— T 37
434
MARCH TO MEXICO.
the targets and the cotton mail, or escaupil, as it was
called in Castilian, were so excellent that they were
subsequently adopted by the Spaniards, as equally
effectual in the way of protection, and superior on the
score of lightness and convenience to their own. They
were of sufficient strength to turn an arrow or the stroke
of a javelin, although impotent as a defence against
fire-arms. But what armor is not ? Yet it is probably
no exaggeration to say that, in convenience, graceful-
ness, and strength, the arms of the Indian warrior were
not very inferior to those of the polished nations of
antiquity. 12
As soon as the Castilians came in sight, the Tlas-
calans set up their yell of defiance, rising high above
the wild barbaric minstrelsy of shell, atabal, and trum-
pet, with which they proclaimed their triumphant an-
ticipations of victory over the paltry forces of the
invaders. When the latter had come within bowshot,
the Indians hurled a tempest of missiles, that darkened
the sun for a moment as with a passing cloud, strewing
the earth around with heaps of stones and arrows. 13
Slowly and steadily the little band of Spaniards held
on its way amidst this arrowy shower, until it had
reached what appeared the proper distance for deliver-
ing its fire with full effect. Cortes then halted, and,
12 Particular notices of the military dress and appointments of the
American tribes on the plateau may be found in Camargo, Hist, de
Tlascala, MS., — Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. ii. p. ioi, et seq., — ■
Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 26, — Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn,
iii. fol. 305, et auct. al.
»3 " Que granizo de piedra de los honderos ! Pues flechas todo el
suelo hecho parva de varas todas de a dos gajos, que passan qual-
quiera arma, y las entrafias adonde no ay defensa." Bernal Diaz,
Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 65.
DECISIVE VICTORY.
435
hastily forming his troops, opened a general well-
directed fire along the whole line. Every shot bore
its errand of death ; and the ranks of the Indians were
mowed down faster than their comrades in the rear
could carry off their bodies, according to custom, from
the field. The balls in their passage through the
crowded files, bearing splinters of the broken harness
and mangled limbs of the warriors, scattered havoc and
desolation in their path. The mob of barbarians stood
petrified with dismay, till at length, galled to despera-
tion by their intolerable suffering, they poured forth
simultaneously their hideous war-shriek and rushed im-
petuously on the Christians.
On they came like an avalanche, or mountain tor-
rent, shaking the solid earth and sweeping away every
obstacle in its path. The little army of Spaniards op-
posed a bold front to the overwhelming mass. But no
strength could withstand it. They faltered, gave way,
were borne along before it, and their ranks were broken
and thrown into disorder. It was in vain the general
called on them to close again and rally. His voice was
drowned by the din of fight and the fierce cries of the
assailants. For a moment, it seemed that all was lost.
The tide of battle had turned against them, and the
fate of the Christians was sealed.
But every man had that within his bosom which
spoke louder than the voice of the general. Despair
gave unnatural energy to his arm. The naked body of
the Indian afforded no resistance to the sharp Toledo
steel ; and with their good swords the Spanish infantry
at length succeeded in staying the human torrent. The
heavy guns from a distance thundered on the flank
436 MARCH TO MEXICO.
of the assailants, which, shaken by the iron tempest,
was thrown into disorder. Their very numbers in-
creased the confusion, as they were precipitated on the
masses in front. The horse at the same moment,
charging gallantly under Cortes, followed up the ad-
vantage, and at length compelled the tumultuous throng
to fall back with greater precipitation and disorder than
that with which they had advanced.
More than once in the course of the action a similar
assault was attempted by the Tlascalans, but each
time with less spirit and greater loss. They were too
deficient in military science to profit by their vast
superiority in numbers. They were distributed into
companies, it is true, each serving under its own chief-
tain and banner. But they were not arranged by rank
and file, and moved in a confused mass, promiscuously
heaped together. They knew not how to concentrate
numbers on a given point, or even how to sustain an
assault, by employing successive detachments to sup-
port and relieve one another. A very small part only
of their array could be brought into contact with an
enemy inferior to them in amount of forces. The
remainder of the army, inactive and worse than use-
less, in the rear, served only to press tumultuously on
the advance and embarrass its movements by mere
weight of numbers, while on the least alarm they were
seized with a panic and threw the whole body into
inextricable confusion. It was, in short, the combat
of the ancient Greeks and Persians over again.
Still, the great numerical superiority of the Indians
might have enabled them, at a severe cost of their own
lives, indeed, to wear out, in time, the constancy of
DECISIVE VICTORY.
437
the Spaniards, disabled by wounds and incessant fatigue.
But, fortunately for the latter, dissensions arose among
their enemies. A Tlascalan chieftain, commanding
one of the great divisions, had taken umbrage at the
haughty demeanor of Xicotencatl, who had charged
him with misconduct or cowardice in the late action.
The injured cacique challenged his rival to single com-
bat. This did not take place. But, burning with
resentment, he chose the present occasion to indulge
it, by drawing off his forces, amounting to ten thou-
sand men, from the field. He also persuaded another
of the commanders to follow his example.
Thus reduced to about half his original strength, and
that greatly crippled by the losses of the day, Xicoten-
catl could no longer maintain his ground against the
Spaniards. After disputing the field with admirable
courage for four hours, he retreated and resigned it to
the enemy. The Spaniards were too much jaded, and
too many were disabled by wounds, to allow them to
pursue ; and Cortes, satisfied with the decisive victory
he had gained, returned in triumph to his position on
the hill of Tzompach.
The number of killed in his own ranks had been very
small, notwithstanding the severe loss inflicted on the
enemy. These few he was careful to bury where they
could not be discovered, anxious to conceal not only the
amount of the slain, but the fact that the whites were
mortal. 14 But very many of the men were wounded,
u So says Bernal Diaz ; who at the same time, by the epithets los
muertos, los cuerpos, plainly contradicts his previous boast that only
one Christian fell in the fight. (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 65.)
Cortes has not the grace to acknowledge that one.
37*
438 MARCH TO MEXICO.
and all the horses. The trouble of the Spaniards
was much enhanced by the want of many articles im-
portant to them in their present exigency. They had
neither oil nor salt, which, as before noticed, was not
to be obtained in Tlascala. Their clothing, accom-
modated to a softer climate, was ill adapted to the
rude air of the mountains; and bows and arrows,
as Bernal Diaz sarcastically remarks, formed an in-
different protection against the inclemency of the
weather. 13
Still, they had much to cheer them in the events of
the day ; and they might draw from them a reasonable
ground for confidence in their own resources, such as
no other experience could have supplied. Not that the
results could authorize anything like contempt for their
Indian foe. Singly and with the same weapons, he
might have stood his ground against the Spaniard. 16
But the success of the day established the superiority
*5 Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3. — Rel. Seg. de Cor-
tes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap.
6. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. — Gomara, Cronica, cap.
46. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 32. — Bernal Diaz, Hist,
de la Conquista, cap. 65, 66. — The warm, chivalrous glow of feeling
which colors the rude composition of the last chronicler makes him a
better painter than his more correct and classical rivals. And, if there
is somewhat too much of the self-complacent tone of the quortim pars
magna fui in his writing, it may be pardoned in the hero of more than
a hundred battles and almost as many wounds.
16 The Anonymous Conqueror bears emphatic testimony to the valor
of the Indians, specifying instances in which he had seen a single war-
rior defend himself for a long time against two, three, and even four
Spaniards 1 " Sono fra loro di valetissimi huomini et che ossano morir
ostinatissimamete. Et io ho veduto un d' essi difendersi valetemente
da duoi caualli leggieri, et un altro da tre, et quattro." Rel. d'un
gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 305.
DECISIVE VICTORY.
439
of science and discipline over mere physical courage
and numbers. It was fighting over again, as we have
said, the old battle of the European and the Asiatic.
But the handful of Greeks who routed the hosts of
Xerxes and Darius, it must be remembered, had not so
obvious an advantage on the score of weapons as was
enjoyed by the Spaniards in these wars. The use of
fire-arms gave an ascendency which cannot easily be
estimated ; one so great, that a contest between nations
equally civilized, which should be similar in all other
respects to that between the Spaniards and the Tlas-
calans, would probably be attended with a similar issue.
To all this must be added the effect produced by the
cavalry. The nations of Anahuac had no large domes-
ticated animals, and were unacquainted with any beast
of burden. Their imaginations were bewildered when
they beheld the strange apparition of the horse and his
rider moving in unison and obedient to one impulse,
as if possessed of a common nature ; and as they saw
the terrible animal, with his "neck clothed in thun-
der," bearing down their squadrons and trampling
them in the dust, no wonder they should have regarded
him with the mysterious terror felt for a supernatural
being. A very little reflection on the manifold grounds
of superiority, both moral and physical, possessed by
the Spaniards in this contest, will surely explain the
issue, without any disparagement to the courage or
capacity of their opponents. 17
•7 The appalling effect of the cavalry on the natives reminds one of
the confusion into which the Roman legions were thrown by the strange
appearance of the elephants in their first engagements with Pyrrhus,
as told by Plutarch in his life of that prince.
440 MARCH TO MEXICO.
Cortes, thinking the occasion favorable, followed up
the important blow he had struck by a new mission to
the capital, bearing a message of similar import with
that recently sent to the camp. But the senate was not
yet sufficiently humbled. The late defeat caused, in-
deed, general consternation. Maxixcatzin, one of the
four great lords who presided over the republic, re-
iterated with greater force the arguments before urged
by him for embracing the proffered alliance of the
strangers. The armies of the state had been beaten
too often to allow any reasonable hope of successful re-
sistance ; and he enlarged on the generosity shown by
the politic Conqueror to his prisoners — so unusual in
Anahuac — as an additional motive for an alliance with
men who knew how to be friends as well as foes.
But in these views he was overruled by the war-party,
whose animosity was sharpened, rather than subdued,
by the late discomfiture. Their hostile feelings were
further exasperated by the younger Xicotencatl, who
burned for an opportunity to retrieve his disgrace, and
to wipe away the stain which had fallen for the first
time on the arms of the republic.
In their perplexity they called in the assistance of
the priests, whose authority was frequently invoked in
the deliberations of the American chiefs. The latter
inquired, with some simplicity, of these interpreters
of fate, whether the strangers were supernatural beings,
or men of flesh and blood like themselves. The priests,
after some consultation, are said to have made the
strange answer that the Spaniards, though not gods,
were children of the Sun, that they derived their
strength from that luminary, and when his beams were
NIGHT- A TTA CK.
441
withdrawn their powers would also fail. They recom-
mended a night-attack, therefore, as one which afforded
the best chance of success. This apparently childish
response may have had in it more of cunning than
credulity. It was not improbably suggested by Xico-
tencatl himself, or by the caciques in his interest, to
reconcile the people to a measure which was contrary
to the military usages — indeed, it may be said, to the
public law — of Anahuac. Whether the fruit of artifice
or superstition, it prevailed ; and the Tlascalan general
was empowered, at the head of a detachment of ten
thousand warriors, to try the effect of an assault by
night on the Christian camp.
The affair was conducted with such secrecy that it
did not reach the ears of the Spaniards. But their
general was not one who allowed himself, sleeping
or waking, to be surprised on his post. Fortunately,
the night appointed was illumined by the full beams
of an autumnal moon ; and one of the vedettes per-
ceived by its light, at a considerable distance, a large
body of Indians moving towards the Christian lines.
He was not slow in giving the alarm to the gar-
rison.
The Spaniards slept, as has been said, with their
arms by their side ; while their horses, picketed near
them, stood ready saddled, with the bridle hanging at
the bow. In five minutes the whole camp was under
arms ; when they beheld the dusky columns of the
Indians cautiously advancing over the plain, their heads
just peering above the tall maize with which the land
was partially covered. Cortes determined not to abide
the assault in his intrenchments, but to sally out and
442 MARCH TO MEXICO.
pounce on the enemy when he had reached the bottom
of the hill.
Slowly and stealthily the Indians advanced, while the
Christian camp, hushed in profound silence, seemed
to them buried in slumber. But no sooner had they
reached the slope of the rising ground than they were
astounded by the deep battle-cry of the Spaniards,
followed by the instantaneous apparition of the whole
army, as they sallied forth from the works and poured
down the sides of the hill. Brandishing aloft their
weapons, they seemed to the troubled fancies of the
Tlascalans like so many spectres or demons hurrying
to and fro in mid air, while the uncertain light mag-
nified their numbers and expanded the horse and his
rider into gigantic and unearthly dimensions.
Scarcely awaiting the shock of their enemy, the panic-
struck barbarians let off a feeble volley of arrows, and,
offering no other resistance, fled rapidly and tumultu-
ously across the plain. The horse easily overtook the
fugitives, riding them down and cutting them to pieces
without mercy, until Cortes, weary with slaughter, called
off his men, leaving the field loaded with the bloody
trophies of victory. 18
The next day, the Spanish commander, with his
usual policy after a decisive blow had been struck, sent
a new embassy to the Tlascalan capital. The envoys
received their instructions through the interpreter,
Marina. That remarkable woman had attracted gen-
lB Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 53, 54. — Oviedo, Hist,
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3. — P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 2,
cap. 2. — Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4. cap. 32. — Herrera, Hist,
general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 8. — Bernal Dia^, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 66.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE ENEMY. 443
eral admiration by the constancy and cheerfulness with
which she endured all the privations of the camp. Far
from betraying the natural weakness and timidity of
her sex, she had shrunk from no hardship herself, and
had done much to fortify the drooping spirits of the
soldiers ; while her sympathies, whenever occasion
offered, had been actively exerted in mitigating the
calamities of her Indian countrymen. 19
Through his faithful interpreter, Cortes communi-
cated the terms of his message to the Tlascalan envoys.
He made the same professions of amity as before,
promising oblivion of all past injuries; but, if this
proffer were rejected, he would visit their capital as a
conqueror, raze every house in it to the ground, and
put every inhabitant to the sword ! He then dismissed
the ambassadors with the symbolical presents of a letter
in one hand and an arrow in the other.
The envoys obtained respectful audience from the
council of Tlascala, whom they found plunged in deep
dejection by their recent reverses. The failure of the
night-attack had extinguished every spark of hope in
their bosoms. Their armies had been beaten again
and again, in the open field and in secret ambush.
Stratagem and courage, all their resources, had alike
proved ineffectual against a foe whose hand was never
weary and whose eye was never closed. Nothing re-
mained but to submit. They selected four principal
caciques, whom they intrusted with a mission to the
J 9 " Though she heard them every day talk of killing us and eating
our flesh, though she had seen us surrounded in past battles, and knew
that we were now all of us wounded and suffering, yet we never saw
any weakness in her, but a courage far beyond that of woman." Bernal
Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 66.
444 MARCH TO MEXICO.
Christian camp. They were to assure the strangers
of a free passage through the country, and a friendly
reception in the capital. The proffered friendship of
the Spaniards was cordially embraced, with many awk-
ward excuses for the past. The envoys were to touch
at the Tlascalan camp on their way, and inform Xico-
tencatl of their proceedings. They were to require
him, at the same time, to abstain from all further
hostilities and to furnish the white men with an ample
supply of provisions.
But the Tlascalan deputies, on arriving at the quar-
ters of that chief, did not find him in the humor
to comply with these instructions. His repeated col-
lisions with the Spaniards, or, it may be, his consti-
tutional courage, left him inaccessible to the vulgar
terrors of his countrymen. He regarded the strangers
not as supernatural beings, but as men like himself.
The animosity of a warrior had rankled into a deadly
hatred from the mortifications he had endured at their
hands, and his head teemed with plans for recovering
his fallen honors and for taking vengeance on the
invaders of his country. He refused to disband any
of the force, still formidable, under his command, or
to send supplies to the enemy's camp. He further
induced the ambassadors to remain in his quarters and
relinquish their visit to the Spaniards. The latter, in
consequence, were kept in ignorance of the move-
ments in their favor which had taken place in the
Tlascalan capital. 20
The conduct of Xicotencatl is condemned by Cas-
20 Bernal Diaz, Hist de la Conquista, cap. 67. — Camargo, Hist, de
Tlascala, MS.— Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE ENEMY.
445
tilian writers as that of a ferocious and sanguinary
barbarian. It is natural they should so regard it. But
those who have no national prejudice to warp their
judgments may come to a different conclusion. They
may find much to admire in that high, unconquerable
spirit, like some proud column standing alone in its
majesty amidst the fragments and ruins around its
They may see evidences of a clear-sighted sagacity,
which, piercing the thin veil of insidious friendship
proffered by the Spaniards, and penetrating the future,
discerned the coming miseries of his country; the
noble patriotism of one who would rescue that coun-
try at any cost, and, amidst the gathering darkness,
would infuse his own intrepid spirit into the hearts
of his nation, to animate them to a last struggle for
independence.
Vol. I.
38
CHAPTER IV
DISCONTENTS IN THE ARMY. — TLASCALAN SPIES. — PEACE
WITH THE REPUBLIC. — EMBASSY FROM MONTEZUMA.
1519.
Desirous to keep up the terror of the Castilian name
by leaving the enemy no respite, Cortes, on the same
day that he despatched the embassy to Tlascala, put
himself at the head of a small corps of cavalry and
light troops to scour the neighboring country. He
was at that time so ill from fever, aided by medical
treatment, 1 that he could hardly keep his seat in the
saddle. It was a rough country, and the sharp winds
from the frosty summits of the mountains pierced the
scanty covering of the troops and chilled both men
and horses. Four or five of the animals gave out, and
the general, alarmed for their safety, sent them back to
the camp. The soldiers, discouraged by this ill omen,
would have persuaded him to return. But he made
answer, "We fight under the banner of the Cross;
1 The effect of the medicine — though rather a severe dose, accord-
ing to the precise Diaz — was suspended during the general's active
exertions. Gomara, however, does not consider this a miracle.
(Cronica, cap. 49.) Father Sandoval does. (Hist, de Carlos Quinto,
torn. i. p. 127.) Soli's, after a conscientious inquiry into this per-
plexing matter, decides — strange as it may seem — against the father!
Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 20.
( 446 )
DISCONTENTS IN THE ARMY.
447
God is stronger than nature," 2 and continued his
march.
It led through the same kind of checkered scenery
of rugged hill and cultivated plain as that already
described, well covered with towns and villages, some
of them the frontier posts occupied by the Otomies.
Practising the Roman maxim of lenity to the submis-
sive foe, he took full vengeance on those who resisted,
and, as resistance too often occurred, marked his path
with fire and desolation. After a short absence, he
returned in safety, laden with the plunder of a success-
ful foray. It would have been more honorable to him
had it been conducted with less rigor. The excesses
are imputed by Bernal Diaz to the Indian allies, whom
in the heat of victory it was found impossible to
restrain. 3 On whose head soever they fall, they seem
to have given little uneasiness to the general, who
declares in his letter to the emperor Charles the Fifth,
"As we fought under the standard of the Cross, 4 for
2 " Dios es sobre natura." Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana,
P- 54-
3 Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 64. — Not so Cortes, who says, boldly,
" I burned more than ten towns." (Ibid., p. 52.) His reverend com-
mentator specifies the localities of the Indian towns destroyed by him
in his forays. Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, pp. ix.-xi.
« [Lorenzana speaks of two standards as borne by Cortes in the
Conquest, one having the image of the Virgin emblazoned on it, the
other that of the Cross. It may be the latter which is still preserved
in the Museum of Artillery at Madrid. (Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 52, nota.) In a letter written to me from that capital,
a few years since, by my friend Mr. George Summer, he remarks,
" In Madrid, in the Museum of Artillery, is a small mahogany box,
about a foot square, locked and sealed, which contains, as the inscrip-
tion above it states, the pendon which Hernan Cortes carried to the
conquest of Mexico. On applying to the Brigadier Leon de Palacio,
448 MARCH TO MEXICO.
the true Faith, and the service of your Highness,
Heaven crowned our arms with such success that, while
multitudes of the infidel were slain, little loss was suf-
fered by the Castilians." 5 The Spanish Conquerors,
to judge from their writings, unconscious of any
worldly motive lurking in the bottom of their hearts,
regarded themselves as soldiers of the Church, fighting
the great battle of Christianity, and in the same edify-
ing and comfortable light are regarded by most of the
national historians of a later day. 6
On his return to the camp, Cortes found a new cause
of disquietude, in discontents which had broken out
among the soldiery. Their patience was exhausted by
a life of fatigue and peril to which there seemed to be
no end. The battles they had won against such tremen-
dous odds had not advanced them a jot. The idea of
their reaching Mexico, says the old soldier so often
quoted, "was treated as a jest by the whole army;" 7
the director of the museum, he was so kind as not only to order this
to be opened, but to come himself with me to examine it. The
standard is probably the same which Lorenzana, in 1770, speaks of
as being then in the Secretario de Gobierno. It is of red Damascus
silk, and has marks of the painting once upon it, but is now completely
in rags."]
5 " it como trayamos la Bandera de la Cruz, y punabamos por
nuestra Fe, y por servicio de Vuestra Sacra Magestad, en su muy
Real ventura nos dio Dios tanta victoria, que les matamos mucha
gente, sin que los nuestros recibiessen dafio." Rel. Seg. de Cortes,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 52.
6 " It was a notable thing," exclaims Herrera, "to see with what
humility and devotion all returned praising God, who gave them vic-
tories so miraculous, by which it was clearly apparent that they were
favored with the divine assistance."
7 " Porque entrar en Mexico, teniamoslo por cosa de risa, a causa
de sus grandes fuercas." Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 66.
DISCONTENTS IN THE ARMY. 449
and the indefinite prospect of hostilities with the fero-
cious people among whom they were now cast threw a
deep gloom over their spirits.
Among the malecontents were a number of noisy,
vaporing persons, such as are found in every camp,
who, like empty bubbles, are sure to rise to the surface
and make themselves seen in seasons of agitation. They
were, for the most part, of the old faction of Velas-
quez, and had estates in Cuba, to which they turned
many a wistful glance as they receded more and more
from the coast. They now waited on the general, not
in a mutinous spirit of resistance (for they remembered
the lesson in Villa Rica), but with the design of frank
expostulation, as with a brother adventurer in a com-
mon cause. 8 The tone of familiarity thus assumed was
eminently characteristic of the footing of equality on
which the parties in the expedition stood with one
another.
Their sufferings, they told him, were too great to be
endured. All the men had received one, most of them
two or three wounds. More than fifty had perished,
in one way or another, since leaving Vera Cruz. There
was no beast of burden but led a life preferable to
theirs. For, when the night came, the former could
rest from his labors ; but they, fighting or watching,
had no rest, day nor night. As to conquering Mexico,
8 Diaz indignantly disclaims the idea of mutiny, which Gomara
attached to this proceeding. "What they said to him was by way of
counsel, and because they believed it were well said, and not with any
other intent, since they followed him ever, bravely and loyally ; nor is
it strange that in an army some good soldiers should offer counsel to
their captain, especially when such hardships have been endured as
were by us." Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 71.
38*
45°
MARCH TO MEXICO.
the very thought of it was madness. If they had en-
countered such opposition from the petty republic of
Tlascala, what might they not expect from the great
Mexican empire? There was now a temporary suspen-
sion of hostilities. They should avail themselves of it
to retrace their steps to Vera Cruz. It is true, the
fleet there was destroyed ; and by this act, unparalleled
for rashness even in Roman annals, the general had
become responsible for the fate of the whole army.
Still there was one vessel left. That might be de-
spatched to Cuba for reinforcements and supplies ; and,
when these arrived, they would be enabled to resume
operations with some prospect of success.
Cortes listened to this singular expostulation with
perfect composure. He knew his men, and, instead of
rebuke or harsher measures, replied in the same frank
and soldier-like vein which they had affected.
There was much truth, he allowed, in what they said.
The sufferings of the Spaniards had been great ; greater
than those recorded of any heroes in Greek or Roman
story. So much the greater would be their glory. He
had often been filled with admiration as he had seen
his little host encircled by myriads of barbarians, and
felt that no people but Spaniards could have triumphed
over such formidable odds. Nor could they, unless the
arm of the Almighty had been over them. And they
might reasonably look for his protection hereafter ; for
was it not in his cause they were fighting ? They had
encountered dangers and difficulties, it was true. But
they had not come here expecting a life of idle dalli-
ance and pleasure. Glory, as he had told them at the
outset, was to be won only by toil and danger. They
DISCONTENTS IN THE ARMY.
451
would do him the justice to acknowledge that he had
never shrunk from his share of both. This was a truth,
adds the honest chronicler who heard and reports the
dialogue, which no one could deny. But, if they had
met with hardships, he continued, they had been every-
where victorious. Even now they were enjoying the
fruits of this, in the plenty which reigned in the camp.
And they would soon see the Tlascalans, humbled by
their late reverses, suing for peace on any terms. To
go back now was impossible. The very stones would
rise up against them. The Tlascalans would hunt them
in triumph down to the water's edge. And how would
the Mexicans exult at this miserable issue of their vain-
glorious vaunts ! Their former friends would become
their enemies ; and the Totonacs, to avert the ven-
geance of the Aztecs, from which the Spaniards could
no longer shield them, would join in the general cry.
There was no alternative, then, but to go forward in
their career. And he besought them to silence their
pusillanimous scruples, and, instead of turning their
eyes towards Cuba, to fix them on Mexico, the great
object of their enterprise.
While this singular conference was going on, many
other soldiers had gathered round the spot ; and the
discontented party, emboldened by the presence of
their comrades, as well as by the general's forbearance,
replied that they were far from being convinced. An-
other such victory as the last would be their ruin. They
were going to Mexico only to be slaughtered. Until,
at length, the general's patience being exhausted, he
cut the argument short, by quoting a verse from an
old song, implying that it was better to die with honor
45 2
MARCH TO MEXICO.
than to live disgraced, — a sentiment which was loudly
echoed by the greater part of his audience, who, not-
withstanding their occasional murmurs, had no design
to abandon the expedition, still less the commander to
whom they were passionately devoted. The malecon-
tents, disconcerted by this rebuke, slunk back to their
own quarters, muttering half-smothered execrations on
the leader who had projected the enterprise, the Indians
who had guided him, and their own countrymen who
supported him in it. 9
Such were the difficulties that lay in the path of
Cortes : a wily and ferocious enemy ; a climate uncer-
tain, often unhealthy ; illness in his own person, much
aggravated by anxiety as to the manner in which his
conduct would be received by his sovereign ; last, not
least, disaffection among his soldiers, on whose con-
stancy and union he rested for the success of his opera-
tions, — the great lever by which he was to overturn the
empire of Montezuma.
On the morning following this event, the camp was
surprised by the appearance of a small body of Tlas-
calans, decorated with badges, the white color of which
intimated peace. They brought a quantity of pro-
visions, and some trifling ornaments, which, they said,
were sent by the Tlascalan general, who was weary of
9 This conference is reported, with some variety, indeed, by nearly
every historian. (Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 55. — Oviedo,
Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 51, 52.
— Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80. — Herrera, Hist, general,
dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 9. — P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.) I
have abridged the account given by Bernal Diaz, one of the audience,
though not one of the parties to the dialogue, — for that reason the
better authority.
TLASCALAN SPIES.
453
the war and desired an accommodation with the Span-
iards. He would soon present himself to arrange this
in person. The intelligence diffused general joy, and
the emissaries received a friendly welcome.
A day or two elapsed, and, while a few of the party
left the Spanish quarters, the others, about fifty in num-
ber, who remained, excited some distrust in the bosom
of Marina. She communicated her suspicions to Cortes
that they were spies. He caused several of them, in
consequence, to be arrested, examined them separately,
and ascertained that they were employed by Xicotencatl
to inform him of the state of the Christian camp, pre-
paratory to a meditated assault, for which he was mus-
tering his forces. Cortes, satisfied of the truth of this,
determined to make such an example of the delinquents
as should intimidate his enemy from repeating the
attempt. He ordered their hands to be cut off, and
in that condition sent them back to their countrymen,
with the message "that the Tlascalans might come by
day or night ; they would find the Spaniards ready for
them. ' ' I0
The doleful spectacle of their comrades returning in
this mutilated state filled the Indian camp with horror
and consternation. The haughty crest of their chief
was humbled. From that moment he lost his wonted
buoyancy and confidence. His soldiers, filled with
superstitious fear, refused to serve longer against a foe
10 Diaz says only seventeen lost their hands, the rest their thumbs.
(Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 70.) Cortes does not flinch from confess-
ing, the hands of the whole fifty : " I ordered that all the fifty should
have their hands cut off; and I sent them to tell their lord that let
him come when he would, by night or day, they should see who we
were." Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 53.
454 MARCH TO MEXICO.
who could read their very thoughts and divine their
plans before they were ripe for execution."
The punishment inflicted by Cortes may well shock
the reader by its brutality. But it should be consid-
ered, in mitigation, that the victims of it were spies,
and, as such, by the laws of war, whether among civ-
ilized or savage nations, had incurred the penalty of
death. The amputation of the limbs was a milder
punishment, and reserved for inferior offences. If
we revolt at the barbarous nature of the sentence, we
should reflect that it was no uncommon one at that
day ; not more uncommon, indeed, than whipping and
branding with a hot iron were in our own country at
the beginning of the present century, or than cropping
the ears was in the preceding one. A higher civiliza-
tion, indeed, rejects such punishments, as pernicious
in themselves, and degrading to humanity. But in the
sixteenth century they were openly recognized by the
laws of the most polished nations in Europe. And it
is too much to ask of any man, still less one bred to
the iron trade of war, to be in advance of the refine-
ment of his age. We may be content if, in circum-
stances so unfavorable to humanity, he does not fall
below it.
All thoughts of further resistance being abandoned,
the four delegates of the Tlascalan republic were now
allowed to proceed on their mission. They were
speedily followed by Xicotencatl himself, attended by
a numerous train of military retainers. As they diew
11 " De que los Tlascaltecas se admiraron, entendiendo que Cortes
les entendia sus pensamientos." Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap.
83-
PEACE WITH THE REPUBLIC. 455
near the Spanish lines, they were easily recognized by
the white and yellow colors of their uniforms, the
livery of the house of Titcala. The joy of the army
was great at this sure intimation of the close of hostil-
ities ; and it was with difficulty that Cortes was enabled
to restore the men to tranquillity and the assumed in-
difference which it was proper to maintain in presence
of an enemy.
The Spaniards gazed with curious eye on the valiant
chief who had so long kept his enemies at bay, and
who now advanced with the firm and fearless step of
one who was coming rather to bid defiance than to
sue for peace. He was rather above the middle size,
with broad shoulders, and a muscular frame intimating
great activity and strength. His head was large, and
his countenance marked with the lines of hard service
rather than of age, for he was but thirty-five. When
he entered the presence of Cortes, he made the usual
salutation by touching the ground with his hand and
carrying it to his head ; while the sweet incense of
aromatic gums rolled up in clouds from the censers
carried by his slaves.
Far from a pusillanimous attempt to throw the blame
on the senate, he assumed the whole responsibility of
the war. He had considered the white men, he said,
as enemies, for they came with the allies and vassals
of Montezuma. He loved his country, and wished to
preserve the independence which she had maintained
through her long wars with the Aztecs. He had been
beaten. They might be the strangers who, it had been
so long predicted, would come from the east, to take
possession of the country. He hoped they would use
456 MARCH TO MEXICO.
their victory with moderation, and not trample on the
liberties of the republic. He came now in the name
of his nation, to tender their obedience to the Span-
iards, assuring them they would find his countrymen
as faithful in peace as they had been firm in war.
Cortes, far from taking umbrage, was filled with
admiration at the lofty spirit which thus disdained to
stoop beneath misfortunes. The brave man knows
how to respect bravery in another. He assumed,
however, a severe aspect, as he rebuked the chief for
having so long persisted in hostilities. Had Xicoten-
catl believed the word of the Spaniards, and accepted
their proffered friendship sooner, he would have spared
his people much suffering, which they well merited by
their obstinacy. But it was impossible, continued the
general, to retrieve the past. He was willing to bury
it in oblivion, and to receive the Tlascalans as vassals
to the emperor, his master. If they proved true, they
should find him a sure column of support ; if false, he
would take such vengeance on them as he had intended
to take on their capital had they not speedily given in
their submission. It proved an ominous menace for
the chief to whom it was addressed.
The cacique then ordered his slaves to bring forward
some trifling ornaments of gold and feather-embroid-
ery, designed as presents. They were of little value,
he said, with a smile, for the Tlascalans were poor.
They had little gold, not even cotton, nor salt. The
Aztec emperor had left them nothing but their freedom
and their arms. He offered this gift only as a token
of his good will. "As such I receive it," answered
Cortes, "and, coming from the Tlascalans, set more
EMBASSY FROM MONTEZUMA. 457
value on it than I should from any other source, though
it were a house full of gold;" — a politic as well as
magnanimous reply, for it was by the aid of this good
will that he was to win the gold of Mexico. 12
Thus ended the bloody war with the fierce republic
of Tlascala, during the course of which the fortunes
of the Spaniards more than once had trembled in the
balance. Had it been persevered in but a little
longer, it must have ended in their confusion and ruin,
exhausted as they were by wounds, watching, and
fatigues, with the seeds of disaffection rankling among
themselves. As it was, they came out of the fearful
contest with untarnished glory. To the enemy they
seemed invulnerable, bearing charmed lives, proof
alike against the accidents of fortune and the assaults
of man. No wonder that they indulged a similar con-
ceit in their own bosoms, and that the humblest Span-
iard should have fancied himself the subject of a special
interposition of Providence, which shielded him in the
hour of battle and reserved him for a higher destiny.
While the Tlascalans were still in the camp, an
embassy was announced from Montezuma. Tidings of
the exploits of the Spaniards had spread far and wide
over the plateau. The emperor, in particular, had
watched every step of their progress, as they climbed
the steeps of the Cordilleras and advanced over the
broad table-land on their summit. He had seen them,
with great satisfaction, take the road to Tlascala,
12 Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzr.na, pp. 56, 57. — Oviedo, Hist,
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 53. — Bernal
Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 71, et seq. — Sahagun, Hist, de
Nueva-Espana, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.
Vol. I.— U 39
458 MARCH TO MEXICO.
trusting that, if they were mortal men, they would
find their graves there. Great was his dismay when
courier after courier brought him intelligence of their
successes, and that the most redoubtable warriors on
the plateau had been scattered like chaff by the swords
of this handful of strangers.
His superstitious fears returned in full force. He
saw in the Spaniards " the men of destiny," who were
to take possession of his sceptre. In his alarm and
uncertainty, he sent a new embassy to the Christian
camp. It consisted of five great nobles of his court,
attended by a train of two hundred slaves. They
brought with them a present, as usual, dictated partly
by fear and in part by the natural munificence of his
disposition. It consisted of three thousand ounces of
gold, in grains, or in various manufactured articles,
with several hundred mantles and dresses of embroid-
ered cotton and the picturesque feather -work. As
they laid these at the feet of Cortes, they told him
they had come to offer the congratulations of their
master on the late victories of the white men. The
emperor only regretted that it would not be in his
power to receive them in his capital, where the numer-
ous population was so unruly that their safety would
be placed in jeopardy. The mere intimation of the
Aztec emperor's wishes, in the most distant way, would
have sufficed with the Indian nations. It had very
little weight with the Spaniards ; and the envoys, finding
this puerile expression of them ineffectual, resorted to
another argument, offering a tribute in their master's
name to the Castilian sovereign, provided the Span-
iards would relinquish their visit to his capital. This
EMBASSY FROM MONTEZUMA.
459
was a greater error : it was displaying the rich casket
with one hand which he was unable to defend with
the other. Yet the author of this pusillanimous policy,
the unhappy victim of superstition, was a monarch
renowned among the Indian nations for his intrepidity
and enterprise, — the terror of Anahuac !
Cortes, while he urged his own sovereign's com-
mands as a reason for disregarding the wishes of Monte-
zuma, uttered expressions of the most profound respect
for the Aztec prince, and declared that if he had not
the means of requiting his munificence, as he could
wish, at present, he trusted to repay him, at some future
day, with good works ! I3
The Mexican ambassadors were not much gratified
with finding the war at an end, and a reconciliation
established between their mortal enemies and the Span-
iards. The mutual disgust of the two parties with each
other was too strong to be repressed even in the pres-
ence of the general, who saw with satisfaction the evi-
dences of a jealousy which, undermining the strength
of the Indian emperor, was to prove the surest source
of his own success. 14
»3 " Cortes recibio con alegria aquel presente, y dixo que se lo tenia
en merced, y que el lo pagaria al senor Montecuma en buenas obras."
Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 73.
i+He dwells on it in his letter to the emperor. "Seeing the dis-
cord and division between them, I felt not a little pleasure, for it
appeared to me to suit well with my design, and that through this
means I might the more easily subjugate them. Moreover I remem-
bered a text of the Evangelist, which says, ' Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation.' I treated therefore with both
parties, and thanked each in secret for the intelligence it had given me,
professing to regard it with greater friendship than the other." Rel.
Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 61.
4 6o MARCH TO MEXICO.
Two of the Aztec envoys returned to Mexico, to
acquaint their sovereign with the state of affairs in the
Spanish camp. The others remained with the army,
Cortes being willing that they should be personal spec-
tators of the deference shown him by the Tlascalans.
Still he did not hasten his departure for their capital.
Not that he placed reliance on the injurious intimations
of the Mexicans respecting their good faith. Yet he
was willing to put this to some longer trial, and at
the same time to re-establish his own health more
thoroughly before his visit. Meanwhile, messengers
daily arrived from the city, pressing his journey, and
were finally followed by some of the aged rulers of the
republic, attended by a numerous retinue, impatient
of his long delay. They brought with them a body of
five hundred tamanes, or men of burden, to drag his
cannon and relieve his own forces from this fatiguing
part of their duty. It was impossible to defer his de-
parture longer ; and after mass, and a solemn thanks-
giving to the great Being who had crowned their arms
with triumph, the Spaniards. bade adieu to the quarters
which they had occupied for nearly three weeks on the
hill of Tzompach. The strong tower, or teocalli, which
commanded it, was called, in commemoration of their
residence, "the tower of victory;" and the few stones
which still survive of its ruins point out to the eye of
the traveller a spot ever memorable in history for the
courage and constancy of the early Conquerors. 15
'5 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 10. — Oviedo, Hist, de
las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 54. — Martyr,
De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquists,
cap. 72-74. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.
CHAPTER V.
SPANIARDS ENTER TLASCALA. DESCRIPTION OF THE
CAPITAL. ATTEMPTED CONVERSION. AZTEC EM-
BASSY. INVITED TO CHOLULA.
The city of Tlascala, the capital of the republic of
the same name, lay at the distance of about six leagues
from the Spanish camp. The road led into a hilly
region, exhibiting in every arable patch of ground the
evidence of laborious cultivation. Over a deep bar-
ranca, or ravine, they crossed on a bridge of stone,
which, according to tradition, — a slippery authority, —
is the same still standing, and was constructed origi-
nally for the passage of the army. 1 They passed some
considerable towns on their route, where they ex-
perienced a full measure of Indian hospitality. As
they advanced, the approach to a populous city was
intimated by the crowds who flocked cut to see and
1 " A distanciade un quarto de legua caminandod esta dicha ciudad
se encuentra una barranca honda, que tiene para pasar un Puente
de cal y canto de bbveda, y es tradicion en el pueblo de San Salvador,
que se hizo en aquellos dias, que estubo alii Cortes para que pasase."
(Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. xi.) If the antiquity of this arched stone
bridge could be established, it would settle a point much mooted in
respect to Indian architecture. But the construction of so solid a
work in so short a time is a fact requiring a better voucher than the
villagers of San Salvador.
39* ( 46i )
462 MARCH TO MEXICO.
welcome the strangers ; men and women in their
picturesque dresses, with bunches and wreaths of
roses, which they gave to the Spaniards, or fastened to
the necks and caparisons of their horses, in the same
manner as at Cempoalla. Priests, with their white
robes, and long matted tresses floating over them,
mingled in the crowd, scattering volumes of incense
from their burning censers. In this way, the multitu-
dinous and motley procession denied through the gates
of the ancient capital of Tlascala. It was the twenty-
third of September, 15 19, the anniversary of which is
still celebrated by the inhabitants as a day of jubilee. 2
The press was now so great that it was with difficulty
the police of the city could clear a passage for the
army ; while the azoteas, or flat terraced roofs of the
buildings, were covered with spectators, eager to catch
a glimpse of the wonderful strangers. The houses were
hung with festoons of flowers, and arches of verdant
boughs, interwined with roses and honeysuckle, were
thrown across the streets. The whole population aban-
doned itself to rejoicing; and the air was rent with
songs and shouts of triumph, mingled with the wild
music of the national instruments, that might have ex-
cited apprehensions in the breasts of the soldiery had
they not gathered their peaceful import from the as-
surance of Marina and the joyous countenances of the
natives.
3 Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, torn. iii. p. 53. — " Recibimiento el
mas solene y famoso que en el mundo se ha visto," exclaims the en-
thusiastic historian of the republic. He adds that " more than a
hundred thousand men flocked out to receive the Spaniards ; a thing
that appears impossible," que parece cosa imposible I It does indeed.
Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.
DESCRIPTION OF TLASCALA. 463
With these accompaniments, the procession moved
along the principal streets to the mansion of Xico-
tencatl, the aged father of the Tlascalan general, and
one of the four rulers of the republic. Cortes dis-
mounted from his horse to receive the old chieftain's
embrace. He was nearly blind, and satisfied, as far as
he could, a natural curiosity respecting the person of
the Spanish general, by passing his hand over his
features. He then led the way to a spacious hall in
his palace, where a banquet was served to the army.
In the evening they were shown to their quarters, in
the buildings and open ground surrounding one of the
principal teocallis ; while the Mexican ambassadors,
at the desire of Cortes, had apartments assigned them
next to his own, that he might the better watch over
their safety in this city of their enemies. 3
Tlascala was one of the most important and popu-
lous towns on the table-land. Cortes, in his letter to
the emperor, compares it to Granada, affirming that
it was larger, stronger, and more populous than the
Moorish capital at the time of the conquest, and quite
as well built. 4 But, notwithstanding we are assured
by a most respectable writer at the close of the last
3 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11. — Rel. Seg.
de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 59. — Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.
— Gomara, Cronica, cap. 54. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 6,
cap. 11.
4 " La qual ciudad es tan grande, y de tanta admiracion, que aunque
mucho de lo, que de ella podria decir, dexe, lo poco que dire creo es
casi increible, porque es muy mayor que Granada, y muy mas fuerte,
y de tan buenos Edificios, y de muy mucha mas gente, que Granada
tenia al tiempo que se gano." Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana,
p. 58.
464 MARCH TO MEXICO.
century that its remains justify the assertion, 5 we shall
be slow to believe that its edifices could have rivalled
those monuments of Oriental magnificence, whose
light, aerial forms still survive after the lapse of ages,
the admiration of every traveller of sensibility and
taste. The truth is, that Cortes, like Columbus, saw
objects through the warm medium of his own fond
imagination, giving them a higher tone of coloring
and larger dimensions than were strictly warranted by
the fact. It was natural that the man who had made
such rare discoveries should unconsciously magnify
their merits to his own eyes and to those of others.
The houses were built, for the most part, of mud or
earth ; the better sort of stone and lime, or bricks
dried in the sun. They were unprovided with doors
or windows, but in the apertures for the former hung
mats fringed with pieces of copper or something which,
by its tinkling sound, would give notice of any one's
entrance. The streets were narrow and dark. The
population must have been considerable, if, as Cortes
asserts, thirty thousand souls were often gathered in the
market on a public day. These meetings were a sort
of fairs, held, as usual, in all the great 'towns, every fifth
day, and attended by the inhabitants of the adjacent
country, who brought there for sale every description
of domestic produce and manufacture with which they
were acquainted. They peculiarly excelled in pottery,
which was considered as equal to the best in Europe. 6
5 " En las Ruinas, que aun hoy se ven en Tlaxcala, se conoce, que
no es ponderacion." Rel. Seg. de Cortes, p. 58. Nota del editor,
Lorenzana.
6 " Nullum est fictile vas apud nos, quod arte superet ab illis vasa
formata." Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF TLASCALA. 465
It is a further proof of civilized habits that the Span-
iards found barbers' shops, and baths both of vapor
and hot water, familiarly used by the inhabitants. A
still higher proof of refinement may be discerned in a
vigilant police which repressed everything like disorder
among the people. 7
The city was divided into four quarters, which might
rather be called so many separate towns, since they
were built at different times, and separated from each
other by high stone walls, defining their respective
limits. Over each of these districts ruled one of the
four great chiefs of the republic, occupying his own
spacious mansion and surrounded by his own imme-
diate vassals. Strange arrangement, — and more strange
that it should have been compatible with social order
and tranquillity ! The ancient capital, through one
quarter of which flowed the rapid current of the Za-
huatl, stretched along the summits and sides of hills,
at whose base are now gathered the miserable remains
of its once flourishing population. 8 Far beyond, to
the southeast, extended the bold sierra of Tlascala,
and the huge Malinche, crowned with the usual silver
diadem of the highest Andes, having its shaggy sides
7 Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Loren-
zana, p. 59. — Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4. — Ixtlilxo-
chitl. Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. — The last historian enumerates such
a number of contemporary Indian authorities for his narrative as of
itself argues no inconsiderable degree of civilization in the people.
8 Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 12. — The population of
a place which Cortes could compare with Granada had dwindled by
the beginning of the present century to 3400 inhabitants, of whom
less than a thousand were of the Indian stock. See Humboldt, Essai
politique, torn. ii. p. 158.
U*
466 MARCH TO MEXICO.
clothed with dark-green forests of firs, gigantic syca-
mores, and oaks whose towering stems rose to the
height of forty or fifty feet, unencumbered by a branch.
The clouds, which sailed over from the distant Atlantic,
gathered round the lofty peaks of the sierra, and, set-
tling into torrents, poured over the plains in the neigh-
borhood of the city, converting them, at such seasons,
into swamps. Thunder-storms, more frequent and
terrible here than in other parts of the table-land,
swept down the sides of the mountains and shook the
frail tenements of the capital to their foundations.
But, although the bleak winds of the sierra gave an
austerity to the climate, unlike the sunny skies and
genial temperature of the lower regions, it was far
more favorable to the development of both the phys-
ical and moral energies. A bold and hardy peasantry
was nurtured among the recesses of the hills, fit equally
to cultivate the land in peace and to defend it in war.
Unlike the spoiled child of Nature, who derives such
facilities of subsistence from her too prodigal hand as
supersede the necessity of exertion on his own part,
the Tlascalan earned his bread — from a soil not un-
grateful, it is true — by the sweat of his brow. He
led a life of temperance and toil. Cut off by his
long wars with the Aztecs from commercial inter-
course, he was driven chiefly to agricultural labor,
the occupation most propitious to purity of morals and
sinewy strength of constitution. His honest breast
glowed with the patriotism, or local attachment to the
soil, which is the fruit of its diligent culture ; while
he was elevated by a proud consciousness of inde-
pendence, the natural birthright of the child of the
SEVERE DISCIPLINE. 467
mountains. Such was the race with whom Cortes was
now associated for the achievement of his great work.
Some days were given by the Spaniards to festivity,
in which they were successively entertained at the hos-
pitable boards of the four great nobles, in their several
quarters of the city. Amidst these friendly demon-
strations, however, the general never relaxed for a
moment his habitual vigilance, or the strict discipline
of the camp ; and he was careful to provide for the
security of the citizens by prohibiting, under severe
penalties, any soldier from leaving his quarters without
express permission. Indeed, the severity of his disci-
pline provoked the remonstrance of more than one of
his officers, as a superfluous caution ; and the Tlascalan
chiefs took some exception at it, as inferring an un-
reasonable distrust of them. But, when Cortes ex-
plained it, as in obedience to an established military
system, they testified their admiration, and the ambi-
tious young general of the republic proposed to intro-
duce it, if possible, into his own ranks. 9
The Spanish commander, having assured himself
of the loyalty of his new allies, next proposed to ac-
complish one of the great objects of his mission, their
conversion to Christianity. By the advice of Father
Olmedo, always opposed to precipitate measures, he
had deferred this till a suitable opportunity presented
itself for opening the subject. Such a one occurred
when the chiefs of the state proposed to strengthen the
9 Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva-Espana, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11. — Camargo,
Hist, de Tlascala, MS. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 54, 55. — Herrera, Hist
general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 13. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista,
cap. 75.
468 MARCH TO MEXICO.
alliance with the Spaniards by the intermarriage of
their daughters with Cortes and his officers. He told
them this could not be while they continued in the
darkness of infidelity. Then, with the aid of the good
friar, he expounded as well as he could the doctrines
of the Faith, and, exhibiting the image of the Virgin
with the infant Redeemer, told them that there was the
God in whose worship alone they would find salvation,
while that of their own false idols would sink them in
eternal perdition.
It is unnecessary to burden the reader with a reca-
pitulation of his homily, which contained, probably,
dogmas quite as incomprehensible to the untutored
Indian as any to be found in his own rude mythology.
But, though it failed to convince his audience, they
listened with a deferential awe. When he had finished,
they replied they had no doubt that the God of the
Christians must be a good and a great God, and as such
they were willing to give him a place among the
divinities of Tlascala. The polytheistic system of the
Indians, like that of the ancient Greeks, was of that
accommodating kind which could admit within its
elastic folds the deities of any other religion, without
violence to itself. 10 But every nation, they continued,
must have its own appropriate and tutelary deities.
Nor could they, in their old age, abjure the service of
10 Camargo notices this elastic property in the religions of Anahuac :
" Este modo de hablar y decir que les querra dar otro Dios, es saber
que cuando estas gentes tenian noticia de algun Dios de buenas pro-
piedades y costumbres, que le rescibiesen admitiendole por tal, porque
otras gentes advenedizas trujeron muchos idolos que tubieron por
Dioses, y &. este fin y proposito decian, que Cortes les traia otro Dios."
Hist, de Tlascala, MS.
ATTEMPTED CONVERSION.
469
those who had watched over them from youth. It
would bring down the vengeance of their gods, and of
their own nation, who were as warmly attached to their
religion as their liberties, and would defend both with
the last drop of their blood !
It was clearly inexpedient to press the matter further
at present. But the zeal of Cortes, as usual, waxing
warm by opposition, had now mounted too high for
him to calculate obstacles ; nor would he have shrunk,
probably, from the crown of martyrdom in so good a
cause. But, fortunately, at least for the success of his
temporal cause, this crown was not reserved for him.
The good monk, his ghostly adviser, seeing the
course things were likely to take, with better judgment
interposed to prevent it. He had no desire, he said, to
see the same scenes acted over again as at Cempoalla.
He had no relish for forced conversions. They could
hardly be lasting. The growth of an hour might well
die with the hour. Of what use was it to overturn the
altar, if the idol remained enthroned in the heart ? or
to destroy the idol itself, if it were only to make room
for another ? Better to wait patiently the effect of time
and teaching to soften the heart and open the under-
standing, without which there could be no assurance
of a sound and permanent conviction. These rational
views were enforced by the remonstrances of Alvarado,
Velasquez de Leon, and those in whom Cortes placed
most confidence ; till, driven from his original purpose,
the military polemic consented to relinquish the attempt
at conversion for the present, and to refrain from a
repetition of scenes which, considering the different
mettle of the population, might have been attended
Vol. I. 40
47°
MARCH TO MEXICO.
with very different results from those at Cozumel and
Cempoalla."
In the course of our narrative we have had occasion
to witness more than once the good effects of the in-
terposition of Father Olmedo. Indeed, it is scarcely
too much to say that his discretion in spiritual matters
contributed as essentially to the success of the expe-
dition as did the sagacity and courage of Cortes in
temporal. He was a true disciple in the school of Las
Casas. His heart was unscathed by that fiery fanati-
cism which sears and hardens whatever it touches. It
melted with the warm glow of Christian charity. He
had come out to the New World as a missionary among
the heathen, and he shrunk from no sacrifice but that
of the welfare of the poor benighted flock to whom he
had consecrated his days. If he followed the banners
of the warrior, it was to mitigate the ferocity of war,
and to turn the triumphs of the Cross to a good account
for the natives themselves, by the spiritual labors of
conversion. He afforded the uncommon example — -
not to have been looked for, certainly, in a Spanish
monk of the sixteenth century — of enthusiasm con-
trolled by reason, a quickening zeal tempered by the
mild spirit of toleration.
11 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84. — Gomara, Cronica, cap.
56. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 76, 77. — This is not the
account of Camargo. According to him, Cortes gained his point :
the nobles led the way by embracing Christianity, and the idols were
broken. (Hist, de Tlascala, MS.) But Camargo was himself a
Christianized Indian, who lived in the next generation after the Con-
quest, and may very likely have felt as much desire to relieve his
nation from the reproach of infidelity as a modern Spaniard would to
scour out the stain — mala raza y mancha — of Jewish or Moorish
lineage from his escutcheon.
ATTEMPTED CONVERSION.
471
But, though Cortes abandoned the ground of con-
version for the present, he compelled the Tlascalans to
break the fetters of the unfortunate victims reserved for
sacrifice ; an act of humanity unhappily only transient
in its effects, since the prisons were filled with fresh
victims on his departure.
He also obtained permission for the Spaniards to
perform the services of their own religion unmolested.
A large cross was erected in one of the great courts or
squares. Mass was celebrated every day in the pres-
ence of the army and of crowds of natives, who, if they
did not comprehend its full import, were so far edified
that they learned to reverence the religion of their
conquerors. The direct interposition of Heaven, how-
ever, wrought more for their conversion than the best
homily of priest or soldier. Scarcely had the Span-
iards left the city — the tale is told on very respectable
authority — when a thin, transparent cloud descended
and settled like a column on the cross, and, wrapping
it round in its luminous folds, continued to emit a
soft, celestial radiance through the night, thus pro-
claiming the sacred character of the symbol, on which
was shed the halo of divinity ! "
The principle of toleration in religious matters being
established, the Spanish general consented to receive
the daughters of the caciques. Five or six of the most
beautiful of the Indian maidens were assigned to as
many of his principal officers, after they had been
cleansed from the stains of infidelity by the waters of
baptism. They received, as usual, on this occasion,
13 The miracle is reported by Herrera (Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 6,
cap. 15), and believed hy Solis. Conquista de Mejico, Lib. 3, cap. 5.
472
MARCH TO MEXICO.
good Castilian names, in exchange for the barbarous
nomenclature of their own vernacular. 13 Among them,
Xicotencatl's daughter, Dona Luisa, as she was called
after her baptism, was a princess of the highest estima-
tion and authority in Tlascala. She was given by her
father to Alvarado, and their posterity intermarried
with the noblest families of Castile. The frank and
joyous manners of this cavalier made him a great
favorite with the Tlascalans ; and his bright, open
countenance, fair complexion, and golden locks gave
him the name of Tonatiuh, the "Sun." The Indians
often pleased their fancies by fastening a sobriquet, or
some characteristic epithet, on the Spaniards. As
Cortes was always attended, on public occasions, by
Dona Marina, or Malinche, as she was called by the
natives, they distinguished him by the same name. By
these epithets, originally bestowed in Tlascala, the two
Spanish captains were popularly designated among the
Indian nations. 14
While these events were passing, another embassy
arrived from the court of Mexico. It was charged, as
usual, with a costly donative of embossed gold plate,
'3 To avoid the perplexity of selection, it was common for the mis-
sionary to give the same names to all the Indians baptized on the
same day. Thus, one day was set apart for the Johns, another for the
Peters, and so on ; an ingenious arrangement, much more for the
convenience of the clergy than of the converts. See Camargo, Hist,
de Tlascala, MS.
x * Ibid., MS. — Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 74, 77. —
According to Camargo, the Tlascalans gave the Spanish commander
three hundred damsels to wait on Marina ; and the kind treatment
and instruction they received led some of the chiefs to surrender their
own daughters, "con proposito de que si acaso algunas se emprenasen
quedase entre ellos generacion de hombres tan valientes y temidos."
AZTEC EMBASSY.
473
and rich embroidered stuffs of cotton and feather-work.
The terms of the message might well argue a vacillating
and timid temper in the monarch, did they not mask a
deeper policy. He now invited the Spaniards to his
capital, with the assurance of a cordial welcome. He
besought them to enter into no alliance with the base
and barbarous Tlascalans ; and he invited them to take
the route of the friendly city of Cholula, where arrange-
ments, according to his orders, were made for their
reception. 15
The Tlascalans viewed with deep regret the general's
proposed visit to Mexico. Their reports fully con-
firmed all he had before heard of the power and am-
bition of Montezuma. His armies, they said, were
spread over every part of the continent. His capital
was a place of great strength, and as, from its insular
position, all communication could be easily cut off
with the adjacent country, the Spaniards, once en-
trapped there, would be at his mercy. His policy,
they represented, was as insidious as his ambition was
boundless. "Trust not his fair words," they said,
"his courtesies, and his gifts. His professions are
hollow, and his friendships are false." When Cortes
J S Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. So. — Rel. Seg. de Cortes,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 60. — Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.—
Cortes notices only one Aztec mission, while Diaz speaks of three.
The former, from brevity, falls so much short of the whole truth, and the
latter, from forgetfulness perhaps, goes so much beyond it, that it is not
always easy to decide between them. Diaz did not compile his narra-
tive till some fifty years after the Conquest ; a lapse of time which
may excuse many errors, but must considerably impair our confidence
in the minute accuracy of his details. A more intimate acquaintance
with his chronicle does not strengthen this confidence.
40*
474
MARCH TO MEXICO.
remarked that he hoped to bring about a better under-
standing between the emperor and them, they replied
it would be impossible ; however smooth his words, he
would hate them at heart.
They warmly protested, also, against the general's
taking the route of Cholula. The inhabitants, not
brave in the open field, were more dangerous from their
perfidy and craft. They were Montezuma's tools, and
would do his bidding. The Tlascalans seemed to
combine with this distrust a superstitious dread of
the ancient city, the headquarters of the religion of
Anahuac. It was here that the god Quetzalcoatl held
the pristine seat of his empire. His temple was cele-
brated throughout -the land, and the priests were con-
fidently believed to have the power, as they themselves
boasted, of opening an inundation from the founda-
tions of his shrine, which should bury their enemies
in the deluge. The Tlascalans further reminded
Cortes that, while so many other and distant places
had sent to him at Tlascala to testify their good will
and offer their allegiance to his sovereigns, Cholula,
only six leagues distant, had done neither. The last
suggestion struck the general more forcibly than any
of the preceding. He instantly despatched a summons
to the city, requiring a formal tender of its submission.
Among the embassies from different quarters which
had waited on the Spanish commander, while at Tlas-
cala, was one from Ixtlilxochitl, sen of the great Neza-
hualpilli, and an unsuccessful competitor with his elder
brother — as noticed in a former part of our narrative —
for the crown of Tezcuco. 16 Though defeated in his
16 Ante, p. 306.
INVITED TO CHOLULA.
475
pretensions, he had obtained a part of the kingdom,
over which he ruled with a deadly feeling of animosity
towards his rival, and to Montezuma, who had sus-
tained him. He now offered his services to Cortes,
asking his aid, in return, to place him on the throne
of his ancestors. The politic general returned such an
answer to the aspiring young prince as might encourage
his expectations and attach him to his interests. It
was his aim to strengthen his cause by attracting to
himself every particle of disaffection that was floating
through the land.
It was not long before deputies arrived from Cho-
lula, profuse in their expressions of good will, and
inviting the presence of the Spaniards in their capital.
The messengers were of low degree, far beneath the
usual rank of ambassadors. This was pointed out by
the Tlascalans ; and Cortes regarded it as a fresh in-
dignity. He sent in consequence a new summons,
declaring if they did not instantly send him a deputa-
tion of their principal men he would deal with them as
rebels to his own sovereign, the rightful lord of these
realms ! I7 The menace had the desired effect. The
Cholulans were not inclined to contest, at least for the
present, his magnificent pretensions. Another embassy
*7 " Si no viniessen, iria sobre ellos, y los destruiria, y procederia
contra ellos como contra personas rebeldes ; diciendo'.es, como todas
estas Partes, y otras muy mayores Tierras, y Senorios eran de Vuestra
Alteza." (Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 63.) " Rebellion"
was a very convenient term, fastened in like manner by the country-
men of Cortes on the Moors for defending the possessions which they
had held for eight centuries in the Peninsula. It justified very rigor-
ous reprisals. (See the History of Ferdinand and Isabella, Part I.
chap. 13, et alibi.)
476 MARCH TO MEXICO.
appeared in the camp, consisting of some of the highest
nobles ; who repeated the invitation for the Spaniards
to visit their city, and excused their own tardy appear-
ance by apprehensions for their personal safety in
the capital of their enemies. The explanation was
plausible, and was admitted by Cortes.
The Tlascalans were now more than ever opposed to
his projected visit. A strong Aztec force, they had
ascertained, lay in the neighborhood of Cholula, and
the people were actively placing their city in a posture
of defence. They suspected some insidious scheme
concerted by Montezuma to destroy the Spaniards.
These suggestions disturbed the mind of Cortes, but
did not turn him from his purpose. He felt a natural
curiosity to see the venerable city so celebrated in the
history of the Indian nations. He had, besides, gone
too far to recede, — too far, at least, to do so without a
show of apprehension implying a distrust in his own
resources which could not fail to have a bad effect on
his enemies, his allies, and his own men. After a
brief consultation with his officers, he decided on the
route to Cholula. 18
It was now three weeks since the Spaniards had taken
up their residence within the hospitable walls of Tlas-
cala, and nearly six since they entered her territory.
They had been met on the threshold as enemies,
with the most determined hostility. They were now
18 Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 62, 63. — Oviedo, Hist,
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4. — Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap.
84. — Gomara, Cronica, cap. 58. — Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap.
2. — Herrera, Hist, general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 18. — Sahagun, Hist, de
Nueva-Espana, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.
INVITED TO CHOLULA.
477
to part with the same people as friends and allies;
fast friends, who were to stand by them, side by side,
through the whole of their arduous struggle. The
result of their visit, therefore, was of the last impor-
tance ; since on the co-operation of these brave and
warlike republicans greatly depended the ultimate
success of the expedition.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
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